Qatar sells January DFC at a premium of $1-$1.50

Qatar sold more than 10 cargoes of deodorised field condensate (DFC) for loading in January at the strongest premium in 10 months on robust naphtha demand, traders said on Thursday.

Strong crack spreads for naphtha and middle distillates, coupled with expected peak winter demand for heating oil, have boosted the Middle East market crude market in recent months, and lifted price differentials of Gulf crudes.

Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Co, or Tasweeq, sold the DFC cargoes via tender at a premium of between $1.00 and $1.50 a barrel to Dubai quotes, improved from a premium of between $1.00 and $1.20 fetched for December DFC lots it sold last month, they said.

The number of cargoes was above normal volumes of around seven to eight lots, as term buyers have yet to renew their contracts for 2011 shipments due to a wide gap between offer and bid prices, they added.

Buyers included oil majors ExxonMobil, Shell as well as South Korean and Japanese refiners, they said.

Asian naphtha cracks soared to more than seven-month highs around $154 a tonne in early November on strong demand from North Asia, before easing to around $146 a tonne on Wednesday, providing support to condensates.

Tasweeq may also sell in the tender one or two low-sulphur condensate (LSC) cargoes for January loading at a premium of between $1.00 and $1.20 a barrel to Dubai quotes. This has not been confirmed.

Last January, Tasweeq sold seven or eight March-loading DFC lots at a premium of between $1.00 and $1.50 a barrel.