Sasol, IOC pick up Nigerian crude oil cargoes

More Nigerian crude oil cargoes have been placed with tender buyers as South Africa’s Sasol and India’s IOC picked up cargoes, Reuters reports.

Fewer than 10 May-loading Nigerian cargoes were still available to buyers, traders said, with Qua Iboe, Forcados and Escravos left. Offers were well above $1.50 premiums to dated Brent, with Erha pegged at a $1.80 per barrel premium. While multiple June-loading Nigerian cargoes had changed hands, traders said most of these were not yet promised to end users, meaning they could be re-offered.

South Africa’s Sasol had purchased a cargo of Nigerian Forcados, but the seller was not immediately clear. Traders said Chevron won a mini-tender issued last week by India’s IOC with a cargo of Nigerian Agbami. Indonesia’s Pertamina was running a tender to buy several million barrels for July delivery, with award expected on May 2. The company did not award a previous quarterly tender to buy oil, traders said.