Saturday, February 6, 1999
Indonesian Crude-Oil Price Rises On
China's Export Cutoff
TOKYO (Nikkei)--A cutoff in crude-oil shipments from China
has sent the price of Indonesian crude-oil exports to Japan
soaring as Japanese power companies scramble to replace
China's Daqing crude with Indonesian substitutes and C fuel oil
refined at home.
For February shipments, the premium on standard Indonesian
crude oil rose to 50-60 cents per barrel, up from minus 10 cents
to zero at the end of last year.
The prices of Japan-bound Indonesian crude oil are computed
by adding premiums to standard prices Indonesia submits every
month. The premiums are determined by the daily
supply-demand balance.
Prices of crude oil from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian
producers may temporarily rise in the future, market insiders say.
The supply-demand balance in the worldwide oil market has
been lax, however, and the prices of crude oil from the Middle
East, Europe and the U.S. are not likely to rise, according to one
observer at a Japanese trading house.
But if the suspension of Daqing crude exports continues into the
summer, it could raise prices of oil from countries other than
Indonesia, squeezing the earnings of Japan's electric utilities.
The nine power companies imported 3 million kiloliters of Daqing
crude in fiscal 1997, accounting for some 30% of the imported
crude oil consumed for thermal power generation.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Saturday morning edition) |
