West African price differentials were unchanged on Friday, with about 10 Nigerian cargoes still available.
A cargo of Escravos loading September 9-10 changed hands, a trader said, but price details did not emerge. A Bonga cargo for loading at the end of September and several Forcados cargoes were still on offer.
The offer level for Forcados was still near dated Brent plus $1.30 a barrel on a fob basis.
Angola’s October programme is expected to be issued at the start of next week.
Asian refiners, particularly from China, increased their purchases of September-loading Angolan after a larger-than-usual amount went to Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean in the summer, another trader said.
Dalia and Plutonio were the main grades that went to Europe from the July and August programmes. Bitumen season, which is in the summer, was one of the drivers of demand, the second trader said.
Oil prices are now too low for most OPEC countries to cover their spending needs, a Reuters survey shows.
The weighted average of oil prices collected by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was $106 a barrel last year.
But oil prices are falling, and the OPEC crude oil basket price was just $100.88 a barrel on Wednesday. In 2013, Nigeria needed around $124 a barrel to meet its expenditure while Angola required less, $94 a barrel.
Reuters
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