Nigerian crude Usan sees first trade in Platts MOC amid wider uptick in WAF liquidity

The Platts Market on Close assessment process saw the first-ever trade for Nigerian crude Usan in the June 25 session, amid a wider uptick in liquidity that has seen five cargo trades resulting from ten offers shown across the June 22-25 MOC sessions.

The June 25 MOC session saw CNOOC UK emerging to offer a 1 million-barrel cargo of Nigeria's Usan crude, loading FOB Usan FPSO across Aug. 18-19. The offer first emerged at a $3.05/b discount to Dated Brent and was lifted by Vitol at a $4.50/b discount, having demonstrated value lower.

This was the first trade seen for the grade in the Platts MOC -- a previous offer for a Usan cargo was seen from ExxonMobil in the Feb. 20 MOC session, but it was withdrawn before the London close without finding a buyer.

The June 25 MOC session also saw Sinochem offering a 950,000-barrel cargo of Dalia loading across Aug. 1-2, which was lifted by BP at a $7.50/b discount to Dated Brent.

Overall, the Platts West African physical crude MOC has seen an uptick in liquidity over the week, with ten offers shown across the June 22-25 MOC sessions for Angola's Dalia, Pazflor, Nemba and Cabinda, Nigeria's Usan and Escravos, and Congolese Djeno.

Equinor and ENI showed three offers each across the four pricing sessions, with Chevron, TotalEnergies, Sinochem and CNOOC UK showing one offer each.

The offering activity had resulted in five trades over the week -- Vitol picked up two cargoes, with SOCAR, Glencore and BP buying one cargo each.

The surge in liquidity comes as West African grades remain under pressure to price competitively amid sluggish Eastern demand, with the August trading cycle kicking off on a bearish note as differentials fell to multiyear lows.