Abu Dhabi National Oil Company sold at least 12 million barrels of spot crude to Asian refiners and trading firms at premiums in its latest tender, as renewed US-Iran hostilities disrupted supplies and sparked a buying spree, trade sources said on Wednesday.
Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz have fallen sharply since fighting between the United States and Iran intensified earlier this month. ADNOC has been using a shuttle fleet service to quietly move crude out of the Persian Gulf and onto other tankers in the Gulf of Oman although exports have slowed this month.
With shipments delayed and supplies tightening, Asian refiners have increased purchases of alternative grades as well as ADNOC cargoes.
Indian Oil Corp purchased two million barrels of Upper Zakum crude for end-August loading at flat or a premium of $1 to August Dubai quotes on a delivered basis.
Chinese majors - Sinopec’s trading arm Unipec, PetroChina and Sinochem - bought two million barrels of Upper Zakum each at premiums of around $3 to $4 a barrel to September Dubai quotes, the sources said. The cargoes will be delivered in September and October.
Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan bought two million barrels of Das crude at a premium of around $1 a barrel to September Dubai quotes on a free-on-board basis.
The companies typically do not comment on trades.
The tender was the seventh issued by the United Arab Emirates producer since the start of June. ADNOC offered Murban, Upper Zakum, Umm Lulu and Das crude for loading between August and October, according to a tender document.
It was unclear whether any Murban cargoes were awarded. One trader said ADNOC had sought a premium of around $10 a barrel for the grade.
The latest awards brought ADNOC's total crude sales through the seven tenders to more than 86 million barrels.
Prior to the war, the UAE exported 103 million and 95 million barrels of crude for January and February respectively, according to Kpler data.
Another trader added that ADNOC has asked South Korean buyers to improve their bids by Wednesday afternoon to finalise sales.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu, Florence Tan in Singapore and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Louise Heavens)