UPDATE 2-Cheap freight, OPEC boost Asia use of W.Africa oil

* 1.38 mln bpd of W.African crude oil sold to Asia in May

* April revised up sharply to 1.61 mln bpd from 1.08 mln

* June exports to Asia also likely to be high

(Adds link to graphic at bottom of story)

By Christopher Johnson

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Low freight rates and production
cuts by Middle Eastern OPEC oil exporters have led to a big rise
in sales of West African crude oil to Asia over the last two
months, a Reuters survey showed.

Forty-five supertankers were sailing east from West African
ports this month carrying around 43 million barrels, or about
1.38 million barrels per day (bpd), of crude oil to refineries
in India, China and elsewhere in east Asia, the survey of a
dozen oil trading firms showed.

Even more West African crude oil headed to Asia in April
with around 35 Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) going just to
Chinese buyers. The total for cargoes going to China last month
has been revised upwards from a previous estimate of 24 after a
review of industry data.

One third of all the crude oil exported from West and
central African countries this month has been sold to Asian
buyers, the survey showed, and last month the final total was as
high as 38 percent of the approximately 4.25 million bpd
produced by the region.

West African crude oil cargoes are usually more likely to
head west or north but very high oil stocks and a fall in demand
in the United States have discouraged U.S. buying, traders say.

Asian buyers have been encouraged to look at crude oil from
Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea and Congo because
of a reduction in production by many Middle Eastern members of
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

TRADING WINDOW

Lower demand for tankers as a result of these OPEC output
cuts and the global economic downturn has helped depress freight
rates and made it cheaper for Asian buyers to move crude oil
long-haul down the coast of Africa and across the Indian Ocean.

"A reduction in supply of Middle Eastern crudes has tended
to hit Asia disproportionately," said a senior trader with a
U.S. oil company, who declined to be identified.

"It has opened up a trading window for West African oil to
move east that has rarely been so wide and there is no sign that
the window is closing yet," he added.

A preliminary survey of cargoes heading east that are due to
load in June suggests that the movement east next month could be
just as high as in May with 35-40 cargoes reported to have been
committed already to Asian buyers.

The surge in cargoes moving east followed a period of
relatively low demand from Asia for West African cargoes.

Industry sources say only around 1 million bpd of crude from
the region moved east in November and that tally dropped to
around 0.9 million bpd in December and January before rising to
around 1.1 million bpd in February and 1.2 million bpd in March.

"Asian demand was weak in the last few months of 2008 but
has recovered very strongly since then," said Olivier Jakob, of
energy consultancy Petromatrix. "We have now had several months
of higher-than-expected flows."

West African crude oil cargoes sailing to Asia

MAY APR MAR
COUNTRY CARGOES BPD CARGOES BPD CARGOES BPD
CHINA 25 766,000 35 1,108,000 24 735,000
INDIA 11 337,000 11 348,000 10 306,000
INDONESIA 2 61,000 2 63,000 0 0
TAIWAN 4 123,000 3 95,000 4 123,000
KOREA 2 61,000 0 0 0 0
OTHERS 1 31,000 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 45 1.38 MLN 51* 1.61 MLN* 38 1.16 MLN

* revised estimate for April (previous estimate 34 cargoes or
1.08 million bpd)

For a graph of West African crude oil exports to Asia,
giving monthly data since 2004, click on:
here
If you have trouble viewing the graphic, please contact Chua
Baizhen on baizhen.chua@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3958;
Reuters Messaging: baizhen.chua.reuters.com@reuters.net.

(Reporting by Christopher Johnson; editing by William Hardy)