An expected rebound in refining margins due to spring maintenance helped to offset rising Nigerian exports in May and traders assessed the Qua Iboe benchmark as unchanged.
The full May loading schedule of Nigerian grades showed that exports are set to rise to a nine-month high of 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd).
Traders said that at least five tankers of Nigerian crude oil for April loading are still unsold, although improving margins in Europe could help accelerate sales.
NIGERIA
* Qua Iboe was assessed around Dated Brent plus $2.50/$2.60 a barrel and unchanged from the previous session.
* The April official selling price (OSP) of Bonny Light and Qua Iboe has been set at Dated Brent plus $2.65 a barrel.
* Usan: Exports for Usan are rising fast and it will load five cargoes or around 150,000 bpd in May compared with three cargoes in April, the shipping lists showed.
* "It's over 2 million (bpd) thanks to Usan," said a west African crude trader.
* Abo: This grade will load one 700,000 barrel cargo for loading 11-12 May.
ANGOLA
* Traders said that demand for Angolan grade via tenders was strong although traded levels have not yet emerged. "It's hard to tell as tenders should be awarded tomorrow. There's good demand for fuel oil from the Chinese," said a trader.
TENDERS
* India's Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Taiwan's CPC closed their tenders to buy light sweet crude. BPCL was seeking crude oil for loading in the first half of May.
* CPC was looking for any loading dates in May. The results of these tenders would be released as early as Wednesday.
* Indian Oil Corp's (IOC) tender to buy West African light sweet crude for May loading will close later this week.
DATABASE
For a database of oil supply and demand fundamentals upstream and downstream, Reuters subscribers can click on: here
(Reporting by Emma Farge)
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