Med crude-Urals diffs stable, freight rates rise in the Black Sea

Equus Mining

13/12/2021 17:37

MOSCOW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Urals crude oil differentials to
dated Brent remained unchanged on Monday amid thin trading
activity, while freight rates in the Black Sea rose slightly.
    * Traders waited for the first Urals loading dates for
January to
be released later this week.
    * Freight rates for 80,000-tonne cargoes for journeys from
Black
Sea to Mediterranean were up on Monday at 110 points Worldscale
(WS), the highest level since Nov. 23, according to Riverlake
agency data in Refinitiv Eikon.  RL-BSEAMED-AF 
    * Weather has improved slightly in the Black Sea region
compared
with the last week, but delays in loadings were still in place
and higher demand for vessels from the Baltic region lifted the
rates, traders said.

    PLATTS WINDOW
    * There were no bids or offers for Urals, CPC Blend or Azeri
BTC
in the Platts window on Monday, traders said.
NEWS

    * OPEC on Monday raised its world oil demand forecast for
the
first quarter of 2022 and stuck to its timeline for a return to
pre-pandemic levels of oil use, saying the Omicron coronavirus
variant would have a mild and brief impact.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2SY0RU


 (Reporting by Olga Yagova and Gleb Gorodyankin; Editing by
Aditya Soni)
 ((gleb.gorodyankin@thomsonreuters.com;))