Asia draws in Russian supplies

摘要

Firm demand for fuel oil-rich crude and increased pressureon Asian buyers to reduce Iranian imports have lifted prices forMideast Gulf sour grades and opened the arbitrage to move atleast 4mn bl of Russian Urals to Asia-Pacific (see uppergraph). China’s Unipec has booked a VLCC to load 2mn bl ofUrals in January, and provisionally booked at least two other1mn bl vessels to load Urals later in the month to go east.