Light sweet proliferation broadens refiners'options

摘要

Majors and independent refiners that traditionally focus on Nigerian crudes for their US refining systems are already starting to diversify their intake of light sweet grades,buying more from the Mediterranean.This is helping them mitigate problems posed by the insecurity of Nigerian supplies amid civil strife in the Niger delta.The potential for entire Nigerian fields to be unexpectedly shut in - as happened with EA and Forcados - and the recent instability of loading dates for grades such as Yoho and Bonga,have made it harder for buyers to hedge and obtain supplies when needed.