Asia’s middle distillates markets kickstarted Monday at a slow pace, evidenced from the lack of window spot deals, while paper market structures weakened further.
Markets are expecting October spot activity from key regional refiners to take flight in the next few days, though supply volumes could decline given heavier refinery maintenance.
The diesel east-west price spread held firm at discounts of slightly more than $40 per metric ton, little changed from the previous trading session.
The 10ppm sulphur gasoil refining margins (GO10SGCKMc1) clawed back some earlier losses and closed the trading session at around $16.8 per barrel.
Cash differentials (GO10-SIN-DIF) declined by 2 cents amid a lack of activity on the open trading window, with a buy-sell gap still hampering deals.
The Asia-U.S. west coast arbitrage price spread for jet fuel turned narrower from the previous trading session, with profit margins for such trade declining by $3-4 a barrel from last week.
Regrade narrowed slightly to $1.5 a barrel, according to trade sources.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No deals for either gasoil or jet fuel
REFINERY NEWS
– CITGO Petroleum said on Friday its FCCU2 unit at the 165,000-barrel-per-day Corpus Christi East refinery in Texas experienced a sudden unplanned shutdown due to the loss of a control valve.
NEWS
– Oil prices are unlikely to gain much traction from current levels this year as rising output from top producers adds to the risk of a surplus and U.S. tariff threats curb demand growth, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
– California’s Energy Commission voted on Friday to temporarily set aside penalties for excessive refining profits that were adopted after gasoline pump prices climbed over $8 a gallon in 2022.
– India is not “profiteering” from Russian oil imports and its purchases have stabilised markets while keeping prices from rising to as much as $200 a barrel, Hardeep Singh Puri, country’s oil minister, said in the Hindu newspaper on Monday.
Source: Reuters