Russian Urals crude differentials were unchanged on Wednesday, while the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) was yet to resume loadings at full capacity, traders said.
The CPC was expected to start loadings on December 15 from its single mooring point (SPM) 3, which has been under repair, but it was still offline on Wednesday. CPC continued to load oil from one of the three Black Sea SPMs, traders said, after a naval drone attack heavily damaged SPM 2.
Russian Urals oil loading in January was slowly trading, but market participants said that the market was under pressure amid uncertainty about possible new Western sanctions and lower buying by Indian refiners.
No bids or offers were made on Wednesday for Urals, Azeri BTC and CPC Blend, traders said.
Rising Russian naphtha exports to Venezuela are at risk after US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the Latin American country, market sources said.
US private equity giant Carlyle has hired Goldman Sachs to work on its bid for Lukoil assets, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, as the race for the sanctioned Russian oil firm's overseas portfolio heats up.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)