Asia’s middle distillates markets were brimming with spot offers for August on Friday, though prices took a slight breather and slipped slightly after the last few sessions of gains.
August spot sales started trickling into the market, led by more offers from several northeast Asia-based oil majors – including China – for both 10ppm sulphur gasoil and jet fuel.
Discussions remained flat to slightly discounted to free on board Singapore prices, in line with some earlier market expectations.
Meanwhile, the front-month east-west price spread narrowed back to discounts of around $35 per metric ton, lower by more than $80 per ton from the previous trading session after the expiry of July ICE gasoil futures yesterday.
The 10ppm sulphur gasoil refining margins (GO10SGCKMc1) closed the trading session at around $19.7 a barrel, barely moving from a week earlier.
On the spot trading window, the 10ppm sulphur gasoil cash markets recorded more spot activity, with premiums (GO10-SIN-DIF) gaining slightly amid higher deals done and a steeper backwardation in paper markets.
Some shipping fixtures for jet fuel cargoes on the South Korea-U.S. west coast route started to emerge after bated breath, given the opened arbitrage export window since late last week.
The price spreads between the two regions remained profitable for sellers as of Friday, Reuters calculations showed.
Regrade (JETREG10SGMc1) remained at discounts of $1.6 a barrel, little changed from the previous session.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– One gasoil deal, no jet fuel deal
INVENTORIES
– Gasoil and jet fuel stocks independently held at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining hub both fell to 1.846 million metric tons and 752,000 tons respectively in the week ended July 10, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday.
REFINERY NEWS
– Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) BPCL.NS will shut a crude unit at its 156,000 barrels-per day (bpd) Bina refinery in central India for 15 days of maintenance from August 11, its executive director said on Friday.
NEWS
– Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports to China are set to rise to the highest in more than two years in August, five trade sources said on Friday, as the top exporter seeks to regain market share in the world’s biggest importer.
– The European Commission is expected to propose a floating Russian oil price cap this week as part of a new draft sanctions package in an attempt to overcome opposition from some member states, four EU diplomats said.
– Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS plans to shut the diesel desulphuriser unit at its 300,000 barrel-per-day Panipat refinery for an upgrade aimed at producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) next year, Arvind Kumar, its head of refineries, said on Thursday.
– China’s economy is expected to have slowed down in the second quarter from a solid start to the year as trade tensions with the United States added to deflationary pressures, reinforcing expectations that Beijing may need to roll out more stimulus.
– Russia’s revenue from sales of crude oil and oil products in June declined by almost 14% from a year earlier to $13.57 billion, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.
Source: Reuters