Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has reportedly started to make cuts in its Murban crude oil supply to buyers in Asia, while diverting more crude to its Ruwais refinery at home, Platts news website reports.
Some Asian refiners have said that ADNOC turned down their requests for “slightly higher” volumes of February cargo with more refiners reporting the same experience in March, according to the report.
“Starting with loadings in April, ADNOC was said to be using the option to supply cargoes with slightly lower volumes within the negative tolerance limits for several Asian refiners,” the report said.
It added: “While the overall impact of the cuts so far is still relatively small, traders said it would boost fundamentals for the light sour crude.
“It’s just marginal, but it will support sentiment,” a trader with a North Asian refiner told Platts. Supply from Abu Dhabi will continue to tighten in the near term, he added.
The cuts are largely limited to Murban crude and have not affected exports of ADNOC’s other key export grades Das Blend and medium sour Upper Zakum, traders said.
The news comes as the first cargo was shipped from the massive Ruwais refinery at the end of last month, hinting at the fact that more Murban crude is now being processed domestically.Â
ADNOC is in the process of commissioning new plant units that would double its capacity of 840,000 b/d.
Meanwhile, its subsidiary Abu Dhabi Oil Refinery Co. (Takreer), started production from the new 417,000 b/d crude distillation unit and hydrotreater in early February.
The new 127,200 b/d residual fluid catalytic cracker is expected to start running this month, with first exports of 10 ppm gasoil to be sold in March.
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