The refiner bought Nekoosa from Total and Genoa from Agape, Palace and Cabana from Sonangol and Zephyr and Topical from ExxonMobil.
"It's good news they bought three VLCCs. More is better," said a seller of West African crude.
CPC is usually the first Asian refiner to step into the market for West African crude. Its monthly tender is closely watched as an indicator of Asian demand from the region.
But price details had yet to emerge, leaving traders guessing as to whether values had recovered from recent lows.
"The Brent/Dubai spread is narrower and freight costs have fallen," said a source at CPC, explaining why the firm bought three VLCCS compared with two last months and only one the month before.
The Brent/Dubai Exchange for Swaps (EFS) stood at $5.40 a barrel in thin discussion on Friday, well off the highs of above $12 touched in October. Activity was otherwise limited, with most companies in Singapore working half days ahead of the New Year holiday and Japan closed since on Wednesday.
Traders on the Middle East market turned their attention to the upcoming retroactive official selling prices (OSPs) for Abu Dhabi and Oman, which might be issued over the weekend.
"ADNOC will go down by, say, 50 to 70 cents a barrel for light grades.
Oman could go up by 7 to 9 cents," a Singapore-based trader said.
Abu Dhabi crudes have traded at discounts of 35 to 50 cents to their ADNOC official selling prices (OSPs) this month as mild weather in Japan limited demand for middle distillates-rich grades.
A few cargoes of flagship Murrain were said to have traded at close to ADNOC parity. By contrast, Oman for February loading traded at premiums of up to 16.5-cents-a-barrel to MOG this month.
The December MOG swaps were discussed at around a $1.08 to $1.12 a barrel premium to Dubai as traders bet on a rise in the December retroactive OSP. Oman's premium to Dubai for November was set at a $1.06 a barrel.
On the Asia-Pacific market, BP Magi's was due to release the retroactive Indonesia Crude Prices (ICPs) for December later on Friday.
Traders calculated flagship Minas at $33.99 a barrel, which would be the grade's lowest OSP since April, still 12 percent higher than the January OSP.