Urals crude differentials held steady as the market remained quiet in thin trading, while the first tanker loading of Iraqi Kurdistan crude from Ceyhan since the pipeline restarted on September 27 will take place on Thursday, Reuters sources said.
Crude oil flows from Iraq's Kurdistan region to Turkey’s Ceyhan port are running at around 180,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from 150,000–160,000 bpd earlier in the week, two shipping sources told Reuters.
France's detention of a tanker suspected of operating for Russia's "shadow fleet" is part of a new European strategy to block revenue funding Moscow's war effort in Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France's boarding of the tanker, calling the operation an act of piracy.
No bids or offers were made for Urals, Azeri BTC or CPC Blend in the Platts window on Thursday.
Kazakhstan's energy minister said on Thursday that he sees the country's 2026 oil output at around 90 million tonnes.
Kazakhstan maintained its crude oil production, excluding gas condensate, a type of light oil, at 1.88 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, unchanged from August.
Production of oil at Kazakhstan's Karachaganak field fell to 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September from 264,300 bpd in August, coinciding with maintenance at Russia's Orenburg gas processing plant (GPP).
Kazakhstan's oil exports to Germany via Russia's Druzhba pipeline totalled 180,000 tonnes in September, the pipeline company Kaztransoil told Reuters on Thursday.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Deepa Babington)
