GENEVA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Nigerian differentials drew

support from a force majeure by Exxon and from strong Asian

demand as Indian Oil Corp (IOC) issued a second tender to buy

light, sweet oil for April.

Traders repeated on Monday that delays were expected to be a

minimum of four to five days for the benchmark Qua Iboe grade

due to pipeline repair work.

The latest force majeure follows a raft of problems at the

end of last year when four oil majors - Shell, Exxon, Total and

Eni - announced outages due to rampant oil theft and floods.

Traders said the delays could support demand for other

Nigerian grades as buyers steer away from the benchmark.

'There is uncertainty over loading dates, and it could

support levels for other grades. Once new dates have been

issued, I would expect Qua to be reasonably well supported too,'

a West African trader said.

Around nine to 10 Nigerian cargoes for March are still

thought to be available, including several Brass River and

Forcados grades.

Angolan cargoes are virtually sold out for March.

NIGERIA

* Qua Iboe: All cargoes sold for March. The grade was

assessed at around dated plus $2.50 a barrel.

* Other grades available included Brass River and Forcados,

according to traders.

* Four Nigerian cargoes were sold into an IOC tender for

April loading. They were: two Bonny Light, 1 Qua Iboe and 1

Brass River.

ANGOLA

* Three cargoes are thought to remain for March loading

including at least one Nemba cargo.

* Nemba last seen around dated Brent plus 40-50 cents.

ASIAN TENDERS

* IOC bought 4 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil via a

tender for April from Shell, traders said. The refiner also

issued a new tender for loading in early April. The two parts of

the tender will close on Wednesday and Thursday, and results are

expected by Friday.

DATABASE

For a database of oil supply and demand fundamentals

upstream and downstream, Reuters subscribers can click on:

http://bond.views.session.rservices.com/ce

(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by Jane Baird)

((emma.farge@thomsonreuters.com)(+41 22 733 38 31, +41 79 89 04

731)(Reuters Messaging:

emma.farge.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS OIL/WESTAFRICA

(WEST AFRICA CRUDE OIL DIFFERENTIALS AND OUTRIGHT PRICES: Bonny Light Cabinda Forcados Qua Iboe CRUDE ARBITRAGE STORIES CRUDE OIL TRADES NORTH SEA CRUDE REPORT MEDITERRANEAN CRUDE 7 W Africa Asia crude exports, monthly New African oilfields energy speed guide crude speed guide NYMEX crude ICE crude OPEC North Sea crude oil oil products derivatives European products Latest ICE Latest NYMEX )))

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