The West African distillate market has seen a build-up in length of 0.3% sulfur gasoil, the typical grade traded, as problems in obtaining foreign exchange for local importers have sapped demand.
"If dollars were there this would get absorbed easily," a source said.
A second source said: "Length is picking up offshore, there's a lack of buyers at the moment."
Obtaining foreign exchange and letters of credit has been a frequent problem for Nigerian importers owing to a scarcity of dollars in the country.
Furthermore, the little available tends to be allocated to the import of gasoline, a larger and more politically significant market.
A contributing factor has also been the arrival of more material from Asia. Two LR2s carrying gasoil, the LR Aldebaran and the FPMC P Hero, have anchored offshore Lome, Togo, over the last day.
In terms of prices, the FOB ARA values for Nigerian-grade gasoil were last heard in the region of minus $11/mt-$12/mt to September ICE low sulfur gasoil futures. The offshore Lome market was heard to be in the region of flat to a premium of $1/mt against September ICE futures.
