LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - French oil major Totalannounced the start of production on a new field offshore Angolaon Tuesday as the main Nigerian grades continued to be offeredat high differentials on expectation of continued strong demand.
* The new Angolan Mostardo stream will aim for peakproduction of 120,000 barrels per day but it is not yet clearwhen cargoes will be marketed.
* All cargoes of Angolan Girassol have been sold, three outof four of which as term allocations.
* Over 10 cargoes of Nigerian crude remain to be sold forApril-loading.
* Bonny Light and Qua Iboe grades for April were beingoffered at a discount of at least 50 cents a barrel compared tocargoes for May, which are indicated at around $2 above datedBrent - matching highs achieved in January.
* Robust demand in Asia, relatively affordable freight costsand favourable refining margins were heard to be supportingindications for West African grades.
* Spot activity was muted as traders awaited the results ofa tender by Indonesia's Pertamina for May delivery, expected toclose on Thursday.
RELATED NEWS
* Exxon Mobil XOM.N recently held talks on the sale of asuite of oil and gas fields in Nigeria as the company focuses onnew developments in U.S. shale and Guyana.
* Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L last year experienced a sharprise in the number of oil spills caused by pipeline theft inNigeria, which the company said were the result of increasedoutput and higher oil prices.(Reporting by Noah BrowningEditing by Mark Heinrich)))
