{"id":4429,"date":"2019-10-30T06:53:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T06:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=4429"},"modified":"2019-10-30T06:53:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T06:53:16","slug":"norway-new-crude-a-threat-to-rivals-in-prized-asia-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=4429","title":{"rendered":"Norway new crude a threat to rivals in prized Asia market"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Norway\u2019s new oil grade is making inroads in Asia, threatening to undermine sales of similar crudes from Africa and South America.
\nChina\u2019s Unipec, at least one of the nation\u2019s independent refiners and South Korea\u2019s Hyundai Oilbank Co have bought Johan Sverdrup for December delivery, said traders and refinery officials in Asia. The North Sea oil produced by Equinor ASA has been likened to Brazil\u2019s Lula and Angola\u2019s Saturno crudes.
\nOil with low-sulphur content is in demand ahead of stricter ship-fuel rules that take effect January 1, while supply of medium-density crude has been tight due to the attacks on Saudi Arabia and US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. Johan Sverdrup has both of those qualities, and it\u2019s also attractively priced, which may have lured refiners that are typically cautious about new grades.
\nIf Johan Sverdrup continues to gain traction it may jeopardize exports of its rival grades to the world\u2019s top crude-consuming region. Angolan and Brazilian oil accounted for 10% and 8%, respectively, of Chinese imports in the first eight months of the year, according to government data. By comparison, Norwegian crude had a minuscule 0.04% share.
\n\u201cI have no doubt we\u2019ll see a trend of more Norwegian flows to Asia, especially China, in the coming months,\u201d said Sengyick Tee, an oil analyst at SIA Energy in Beijing. \u201cGiven the soaring freight rates and high Chinese stockpiles, Equinor will need to price it attractively,\u201d he said, adding that the company has a strong presence among Shandong\u2019s teapots.
\nShandong Qingyuan Group, a Chinese teapot, bought about 1mn barrels of Johan Sverdrup at a premium of $6 to $6.50 a barrel to Brent crude on a delivered basis, said traders who asked not to be identified as the information isn\u2019t public. That\u2019s around $1 a barrel cheaper than Lula and 20 to 30 cents less than Saturno, the traders said.
\nUnipec \u2013 the trading arm of Chinese giant Sinopec \u2013 has bought two shipments of Johan Sverdrup for October loading, while Hyundai Oilbank took an undisclosed volume of the grade, the traders said. The prices for these deals aren\u2019t available.
\nWhether or not Equinor can keep offering the grade at lower prices over the longer term remains to be seen.
\nThe Norwegian company may have hedged shipping costs in advance, said one of the traders. Equinor is also giving buyers the option to co-load with other varieties, which may help reduce the cost of shipping to Asia.
\nJohan Sverdrup has an API gravity reading of 27 degrees with sulphur content of 0.8%. While that\u2019s a slightly higher sulphur reading than most sweet crudes \u2013 loosely defined as having 0.5% or less of sulphur \u2013 processors looking to produce more IMO 2020-compliant fuel may seek out the grade as part of a lower-sulphur oil feedstock blend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Norway\u2019s new oil grade is making inroads in Asia, threatening to undermine sales of similar crudes from Africa and South America. China\u2019s Unipec, at least one of the nation\u2019s independent refiners and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[46,48,57,68,76,77,82,86,87,90,96,99,103,107,109,111,113,137,139,146,148,160,174,183,184,201,202,209,222,230,232,233,244,246,249,256,262,263,267,277,279,280,285,288],"class_list":["post-4429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oil-gas","tag-aramco","tag-athens","tag-baroudi","tag-carbon","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-co2","tag-cyprus","tag-decarbonising","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-eastmed","tag-egypt","tag-embargo","tag-emissions","tag-energy","tag-energy-peace","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-greece","tag-greenenergy","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-boundaries-east-mediterranean","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-pollution","tag-poverty-alleviation","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-solar","tag-solar-power","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-turkey","tag-unclos","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}