Chinese independent refiners snap up Brazilian crude for December-January arrival

SINGAPORE, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Chinese independent refiners have snapped up millions of barrels of Brazilian crude in recent deals, traders said, as lower freight rates improved economics and refiners sought to utilize their annual import quotas before the year-end.

• Totsa sold about 1.9 million barrels of Brazil's Sururu and Sepia crude to Jinao Chemical for end-December arrival. The cargoes were priced at premiums of around $20 a barrel to the February ICE Brent contract, traders said

• The Hubei-based refiner also bought one million barrels of Iraqi Basrah Medium crude from Mercuria last week at a premium of about $13 a barrel to February ICE Brent for December delivery

• Totsa also sold around 900,000 barrels of Sururu crude to Hualong for end-December arrival at a premium of about $16 a barrel to February ICE Brent

• Separately, Qicheng bought about 3 million barrels of January-arrival Tupi and Buzios crude at a premium of around $18 a barrel to the March ICE Brent contract. The sellers were PetroChina and CNOOC, traders said

• Prices for Brazilian and African crude had fallen on weak demand due to a surge of freight rates

• Persistently high Russian ESPO prices also prompted independent refiners to switch to longer-haul alternatives

• The companies typically do not comment on their commercial transactions