CPC Blend oil differentials weakened on Wednesday after recent drone attacks on Greek-managed tankers on their way to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal to load oil as market participants showed caution, traders said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned drone strikes on oil tankers near a terminal on its Black Sea coast and accused Ukraine of attacking commercial ships. Kazakhstan on Wednesday urged the US and Europe to help secure the transport of oil following drone attacks on tankers heading to a Black Sea terminal on the Russian coast which handles one percent of global supply.
Traders and shippers involved in CPC Blend oil market evaluated the risks, but security issues in the Black Sea started to put pressure on the grade's values, traders said.
ExxonMobil offered 120,000 tons of CPC Blend loading on February 10-14 at minus $0.40 per barrel, but failed to find a buyer, though the offer was weaker than recent market estimates, traders said.
No bids or offers were made on Wednesday for Urals and Azeri BTC, traders said.
Russian oil production dipped around 0.7 per cent last year to 9.129 million barrels per day, OPEC monthly data showed on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Reuters)
