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MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean
refiner GS Caltex Corp has bought a rare cargo of Cold Lake crude, the company’s
first purchase in more than two decades of this Canadian oil grade, reported Reuters with reference to a company
spokesman's statement on Monday.
The second-largest refiner in South
Korea bought 300,000 bbl of the heavy sour crude for delivery in the second half
of February, he said.
The refiner is trying out a small volume of the
oil, which has a quality similar to that of Iraq’s Basra Heavy crude, a person
familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he
wasn’t authorized speak to media.
About 300,000 barrels of Cold Lake were
loaded onto Panamax Selecao on Dec. 13 at Vancouver for delivery to an
unspecified destination, trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon
showed.
One trading source said the arbitrage window might have briefly
opened when the discount between US West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent
futures stretched as wide as USD7/bbl last week on a disruption in Forties crude
supply.
Heavy crude produced in Canada is trading close to its deepest
discount in four years as pipeline constraints pushed western Canadian crude
inventories to record highs.
GS Caltex operates a 790,000-bpd refinery in
Yeosu. The refiner is equally owned by GS Energy Corp, a unit of GS Holdings,
and US oil major Chevron Corp.
Another South Korean refiner Hyundai
Oilbank Corp has also expressed interest in purchasing Canadian crude. |
