Med Crude-Urals Stronger in Tenders as Margins Recover

Russian Urals crude strengthened in the Baltic on Tuesday after eight straight weaker sessions as healthy refining margins prompted European refiners to resume buying.

There was no deals, bids or offers in the Platts window, traders said.

In tender news, oil firm Surgut was believed to have sold four early September cargoes in the Baltic at prices slightly stronger than previous market estimates.

Total bought a Sept. 1-2 Primorsk cargo and a Sept. 3-4 Ust-Luga cargo at around dated Brent minus $2 a barrel, some 15 cents above previous price estimates.

Lukoil and Glencore (GLCNF) were believed to have bought cargoes from Primorsk for Sept. 4-5 delivery and Ust-Luga for Sept. 5-6 delivery at around dated Brent minus $1.70-$1.80.

Rosneft was also believed to have awarded three cargoes at its spot tender from the Baltic to China's Unipec. It wasn't clear yet who won a Rosneft tender to lift one Aframax and one Suezmax tanker in the Mediterranean, traders said.

PKN Orlen was believed to have awarded a tender to deliver 100,000 tonnes of oil in early September in the Baltic to Shell at dated Brent minus $2.

A decline in oil prices brought refining margins for Urals to over $5 per barrel for simple refineries and to over $3 per barrel for more sophisticated plants - a very good level compared to dismal margins earlier this year.

"The margins are fine and ensure a decent level of profitability. There is of course plenty of oil around but there is no glut," said a trader with a European major.

Libya is due to start loading an oil tanker from top port Es Sider on Tuesday following a year-long blockade by eastern federalists.

Lukoil said on Tuesday it had shipped 1 million barrels of oil produced from southern Iraq's giant West Qurna-2 oilfield, its first shipment from the field, despite a surge in violence in Iraq.

The capacity of Iraqi Kurdistan's independent oil pipeline will almost double to at least 200,000 barrels per day by the end of this month, helping the semi-autonomous region increase exports and revenue.

(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin and Dmitry Zhdannikov,; Editing by David Evans)