International crude: Urals diffs up in NWE

摘要

Urals differentials in Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean were up Wednesday as the official January Urals program showed a drop in both regions.At the same time, market sources reported some buying interest for Urals as buyers were taking positions due to the smaller programs. "There are some buyers out there, so activity is picking up," a trader said. Demand was supported by the rise in refining margins which reached about plus $1.50/barrel for cracking margins in the Med, one refiner said. "Refining margins improvement is helped by middle distillates [cracks]," a trader said.