Demand for Nigeria crude oil dips as traders look for more discount

Trading on Nigeria crude oil was relatively slow as a pending tender from Indian Oil Corp. kept Nigerian barrels tied up, while key buyer Unipec continued to offer some cargoes of other grades of oil, including from Angola and Cameroon. Refiners said offer differentials were too high and would likely soften.

NIGERIA

* Vitol continued to offer Qua Iboe from storage in South Africa’s Saldhana Bay, and traders said others were also quietly offering cargoes of Nigerian crude from storage.

* A U.S. east coast refiner had also purchased some Qua Iboe from Vitol offered from storage, traders said.

* Vitol had already placed 2 million barrels with Taiwan’s CPC, traders said. Other firms were also said to be selling stored barrels.

* Vitol had also purchased several cargoes of end-April loading cargoes of Escravos, possibly targeting the IOC tender.

* ExxonMobil was still offering Qua Iboe at a $1.20 a barrel premium to Brent, which traders said was too high.