ESPO Blend cargoes for October delivery have traded actively, with nearly all volumes sold to buyers at around a $1-a-barrel premium to ICE Brent on a delivered basis into Chinese ports, the traders said.
That compares with September-delivery cargoes, which traded from a $1-a-barrel discount to parity with ICE Brent last month. The last time ESPO Blend traded at a premium to Brent was in June.
Strong demand from Chinese refiners has sidelined another major buyer of Russian oil, India, two of the traders said. Indian refiners were unable to secure October ESPO allocations because Chinese buyers snapped up all available cargoes, they added.
Both China’s independent refiners and major state-owned oil companies have been active buyers of ESPO Blend cargoes, traders said.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Aizhu Chen in SINGAPORE, Reuters reporters in MOSCOW, additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI. Editing by Mark Potter)