Minas premium prices slip

Minas premium prices slip

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Spot premiums of Indonesian Minas continued to slip on lackluster demand and ample availability, traders said yesterday.

Late Tuesday, a Japanese trader was believed to have sold 200,000 barrels of March-lifting Minas at 38 cents a barrel premium to the Indonesian Crude Price (ICP), on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The premium was 12 cents off the last known deal concluded early last week and off at least 50 cents from pre-Lunar New Year levels. The cargo was reported to have been bought by a Hong Kong-based Chinese trader for a South China refinery.

Traders said another 200,000 barrels of March-lifting Minas cargo was also sold overnight at ICP plus 35 cents to a European refiner.

Spot offers of Minas are now at ICP plus 35 cents, but buying interest from traditional buyers in China and Japan remained scarce due to a healthy influx of cheaper West African alternatives into Asia.