Asia’s middle distillates markets remained illiquid on the trading window, against a backdrop of volatile macro markets and tariff talks, though refiner sales activity for May cargoes started to tick up slightly in line with earlier expectations.
A handful of northeast Asian refiners, however, were still holding back on their offers since earlier in the week given the large drop in fixed prices.
Diesel spot sales for May are likely to remain in discounts for the time being, as sufficient supplies are still likely to be a key driver in Asian fundamentals.
Talks of some Middle East-origin diesel barrels possibly heading to the Asia-Pacific region were also likely in the meantime, one trade source said.
The jet fuel arbitrage between Asia and the U.S. west coast stayed open, but shipping enquiries remained few.
Refining margins eased slightly from the previous trading session, but they continued to hover at near one-month highs of slightly above $14.50 a barrel.
Cash differentials firmed to around 25 cents per barrel, a reflection of the wider April-May time spreads, though a buy-sell gap limited spot trades on the window.
Regrade was at around discounts of 80 cents per barrel, narrower than the previous trading session.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No deals for both fuels
INVENTORIES
– Middle distillates stockpiles held at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone slipped to a two-week low of 2.56 million barrels in the week ended April 7, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.
– U.S. crude oil and distillate inventories fell while gasoline inventories rose last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
REFINERY NEWS
– India’s Reliance Industries has shut a crude unit and some secondary units for maintenance for 21 days from this week at its 660,000 barrels-per-day domestic market-focused refinery, trade sources familiar with the matter said.
NEWS
– China will impose 84% tariffs on U.S. goods from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
– Oil prices fell to a four-year low on Wednesday in its worst five-day losing streak in three years, while several commodities, including base metals, tumbled as the trade war between China and the U.S. is set to intensify.
– Continued tariff escalation between the United States and China presents a downside risk to a 2025 full-year real GDP forecast of 4.5% for China, Goldman Sachs said in a note.
Source: Reuters