Med Crude-Urals Crude Bid Higher, Kirkuk Tanker Cancellations Spread

Russian Urals crude was bid higher in northwest Europe, while differentials in the Med were supported by more tanker cancellations in the Turkish port of Cheyhan.

Those cancellations were due to a lack of rival Kirkuk oil in tanks owned by Iraqi state oil firm SOMO.

Shipping data showed the latest Kirkuk tanker cancellations included Eni's Seanostrum, Socar's Oklahoma, China Oil's Baltic Galaxy, Saras's Baku, Repsol's Afra Laurel and BP's SKS Satilla.

In the Platts window, Eni bid for 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude <URL-NWE-E> for loading in the Baltic on July 21-25 at as high as dated Brent minus $0.95 a barrel without finding any sellers, traders told Reuters.

That was 5 cents a barrel below the previous deal in the Platts window.

There was no activity in the Platts window for the Mediterranean market, while Urals assessments in the region stood firm at parity to dated Brent, oil traders said.

The discount of large Suezmax Urals cargoes to smaller Aframax <URL-80-135> in the Med narrowed to less than 30 cents per barrel from the usual 75-65 cents, they added.

There are around four Aframax and two Suezmax cargos of Urals from the July loading plan available to the market, trade sources told Reuters.

Rates on the main Baltic tanker route reached W80.00 in the Worldscale measure of freight rates on Monday, compared with W150.00 on June 30.

"With the current spread, the arbitrage (from north to south) is feasible, as the freight rates folded," a source with a trader said.

It is usually enough for Urals in Europe's north and south to be priced around $1 per barrel apart for deliveries between the two regions to be feasible.

Turkish refiner Tupras reissued a tender to buy 600,000-1,000,000 barrels of oil for arrival between July 20 and 31. Tupras is seeking Urals, Al Jury or Siberian Light crude. The tender closes on July 7.

There were no bids and offers for CPC Blend <CPC-E> and Azeri Light <AZR-E> in the Platts window, traders said.

(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankinb)