Kuwait sells September cargoes to Indonesia, price down

Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) sold two 80,000-tonne cargoes of 0.2 per cent sulphur gas oil for September delivery to Indonesia's Pertamina, after the parcels were diverted from Pakistan as demand wilted during the country's devastating floods, traders said on Thursday.

The cargoes were sold at a premium of $1.00-$1.10 a barrel to Middle East spot quotes, down from $1.10-$1.50 a barrel done last week, traders said.

"Kuwait was desperately negotiating with Pertamina to supply two 80,000-tonne gas oil cargoes to Indonesia during the month of September and it seems they got it done," said one trader.

"The Pakistan situation has worsened, and has created a lot of distortion to the supply-demand balance for high-sulphur gas oil," he added.

Over the last two weeks, KPC sold two 0.2 percent sulphur gas oil cargoes in the spot market after Pakistan State Oil (PSO) deferred deliveries of its August term parcels.

PSO takes delivery of at least two 0.5 per cent sulphur gas oil cargoes - measuring between 30,000 and 50,000 tonnes each - from KPC every month.

Traders said PSO had declared force majeure on taking delivery of at least two gas oil cargoes due to the floods.

KPC sold a spot gas oil cargo for August 23-24 loading to Glencore at a premium of $1.10 a barrel to Middle East spot quotes last week, after selling a similar parcel to Trafigura at a premium of $2.05 a barrel the previous week, traders said.