Singapore, June 17: Favourable prices and quality mean Asian refiners are eager to get a sizeable share of Iraq's crude when exports resume, with some looking to secure supply through term deals, traders say. Asia imports about two-thirds of its oil needs, estimated at about 21.6 million barrels per day (bpd), with 80 per cent coming from the volatile Middle East and mostly via term contracts.
Refiners in India, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan see Iraq's main export grade, Basrah Light, as a good alternative to Asia's mainstay imports such as Saudi Arabia's Arab Light and medium sour grade Oman.
And Basrah Light is normally priced below both.

"There is no doubt that Asian refiners would buy Iraqi crude oil once it's back to the market," said one trader at a leading South Korean refiner.
Taiwan's private refiner, the 450,000-bpd Formosa Petrochemical Corp, possibly the largest Iraqi crude end buyer in Asia, hopes to secure pre-war volumes of about 2 million barrels a month.
"Our plants liked Iraqi crude. Basrah Light accounted for half of our spot purchases in 2002," a Formosa trader said from Taipei.
Iraq's crude exports, which pre-war accounted for about 4 per cent of world exports, ground to a stop in early March in the lead-up to the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Bureau Report