CRUDE MOC: Two Murban cargoes sold on Platts MOC Friday

Singapore — Two cargoes of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude were sold in the Platts Market on Close assessment process Friday as the light sour grade's spot market prices fell to record lows amid a continued display of strong selling interest this cycle.

Buyers Mercuria and Shell picked up a cargo each -- sized 500,000 barrels -- of Murban from Total, which initially placed its offer at a discount of 50 cents/b to the May Murban OSP.

Total offered its first clip down to a discount of $1.60/b against the OSP during the MOC, at which point Shell purchased the cargo, loading May 1-25. Total offered a second cargo of the grade, pushing the price down to minus $1.90/b toward the end of the MOC -- this one was picked up by Mercuria.

This brings the total count for full sized cargoes traded on the MOC this month to three, all of which have been Murban cargoes.

Additionally, the Platts MOC has seen a total 152 partials traded to date in March, 141 for May Dubai and 11 for May Oman crude.

Platts assessed the OSP differential for Murban at minus $1.90/b, its lowest level since October 6, 2008, when the differential fell to minus $2.50/b, according to Platts records.

Total also put a cargo of May loading Das Blend crude on offer in Friday's MOC, initially at a discount of 50 cents/b to the Das OSP, but pushed the offer significantly lower in the absence of buying interest for the grade. Total's final offer for Das stood at minus $2/b at the end of the MOC.

Platts assessed the OSP differential for Das Blend at minus $2.05/b, its lowest on record since Platts began publishing the assessment in May 2014.

The May Dubai cash/futures spread continued to push further down after hitting a record low of minus $4.57/b on Thursday. The spread was assessed at minus $5.18/b on Friday, down 61 cents/b on the day.

The previous low was on October 10, 2008 at minus $4.13/b.