Commodity trading houses and oil majors are scrambling to find spot buyers for crude oil outside China, where demand is depressed because of the coronavirus outbreak and where some buyers are asking to delay buying, Asia-based traders told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Cargoes of grades ranging from Russia’s ESPO to Brazil’s Lula to Iraq’s Basra Light are being offered for delivery in a few weeks time, an unusual pattern because they would have already been traded weeks ago, according to the traders who spoke to Bloomberg. Buyers in Asia are not too enthusiastic to snap up spot cargoes, because refining margins are weak. One potential beneficiary of the depressed crude trading market in China could be India, where refiners see opportunities in buying prompt cargoes. China’s oil demand amid the coronavirus outbreak is likely inflicting the worst oil demand shock to markets since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, with Chinese […]