1/17 7:19 Asian Crude Rises on February Demand for Light, Sweet Grades
By Armorel Kenna
Singapore, Jan. 17 (Bloomberg Energy) -- Crude oil prices in
Asia rose today on expectations of robust demand for light, sweet
grades amid restricted regional supply of heating fuels, traders
said.
In the spot market, Asian benchmark spot Tapis was valued at
$25.35 a barrel, up 30 cents from Friday. February Tapis swaps
were assessed at $25.80 a barrel, compared with $24.60 a barrel on
Friday.
March Brent crude futures trading on the Singapore
International Monetary Exchange rose $1.10 to $25.60 a barrel.
In London, March Brent crude oil futures trading on the
International Petroleum Exchange were recently 46 cents higher at
$25.63 a barrel.
February demand for light, sweet grades of crude oil was
expected to increase after refiners in Singapore maintained lower
operating rates of 55-60 percent capacity in January, which
limited the production of heating fuels. Traders said there had
been several inquiries for crude from Australia, Japan and Korea,
although few bids were reported today.
Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil company, issued a
tender to purchase supply of light, sweet crude oil for March
delivery. Traders said the tender will close today.
Moreover, traders said import demand from India will likely
resume in the coming days on increased demand from refiners in the
country after a brief strike by Indian oil workers ended last
week.
The Indian Oil Corp. deferred the closing date of its tender
to buy sweet crude oil for March-May 2000. The tender was due to
close Jan. 12, but will now close Jan. 20, traders said. |
