Asian crude prices firmer

Asian crude prices firmer

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Heavy crude prices in Asia were talked
firmer yesterday, following official news that Indonesia had cut
its export allocations for July, traders said.

"Cinta and Widuri will definitely be stronger, there are no
more spot supplies left," said a Japanese trader.

"Minas will remain firm, but maybe will not move up so much
because there are still some barrels on offer," he added.

Traders said state-owned Pertamina alloted its term customers
and two affiliates PPT and Kipco their July volumes on Monday,
with total allocations for Minas heard to be between 32-35,000
barrels-per-day (bpd), but could not be confirmed.

In June, Pertamina allocated 40,000 bpd of Minas.

Cinta volumes for July were heard to be similar to June at
9,000 bpd, but Widuri volumes were heard to have been cut to
11,000 bpd from 15,000 bpd in June.

The last trades of Widuri and Cinta were done around ICP
+15/20 cents per barrel, with the next trades likely to be
higher, traders said.

But they expected Minas premiums to continue hovering around
the 10/11 cents level to ICP, in line with the last trades done
last week.