Thai Oil buys first crude cargoes from Oman, US amid OPEC cuts
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Thailand's largest oil refiner Thai Oil has bought its first ever cargoes of US Eagle Ford crude and Oman crude as its diversifies purchases amid OPEC production cuts, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The company bought 500,000 barrels of Eagle Ford crude from a western trader for delivery at the end of May and an equal volume of Oman which will load in May. It bought the cargoes after oil prices fell on lower demand in Asia during peak refinery maintenance season in the second quarter.
Thai Oil has previously purchased the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude grade from US for its refinery, paving the way for this purchase, one of the sources said.
"The company has processed US WTI Midland before and had no problem. So this time it is trying out another US crude," the source said.
The purchase of these grades comes a month after Thai Oil bought its first ever Russian Sakhalin Blend crude cargo.
Thai Oil officials declined to comment.
The refiner typically buys Abu Dhabi crude from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the spot market to meet incremental demand at its plant. The UAE is part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that has cut output since January to support oil prices.
Reporting by Florence Tan; Additional reporting by Orathai Sriring in BANGKOK; Editing by Christian Schmollinger
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