Asia’s middle distillates markets started the week with prices and margins little changed as traders awaited more sale tenders from key refiners for July cargoes.
At least one more refiner offered two early July jet fuel cargoes for sale, sparking talks of northeast Asian oil majors mulling a switch to higher jet fuel yields amid better economics, after last week’s narrower regrade discounts.
Overall, stronger demand expectations for the aviation fuel ahead of the summer travelling season, compared with slower gasoil demand, could have been the second key consideration, one refinery source said.
Refining margins for 10ppm sulphur gasoil declined slightly by almost 60 cents from the previous session, despite paper and ICE gasoil price gains.
Cash differentials strengthened further as the market’s contango price structure narrowed slightly between July and August. A buy-sell gap, however, continued to limit overall discussions.
Regrade widened back to discounts of more than $1 a barrel as sellers came back into the market amid worries that ample supplies could re-emerge given better seller incentives.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No deals for both fuels
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil and distillate stockpiles were expected to have fallen while gasoline inventories likely rose last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
REFINERY NEWS
– U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 92,000 barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline in the week ending June 21, increasing available refining capacity by 5,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Monday.
NEWS
– Indonesia’s Pertamina has started its July procurement for 2,500 parts per million sulphur gasoil via spot tender, seeking up to 1 million barrels of the fuel, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
– A unit of global commodities trader Trafigura has agreed to pay a $55 million civil fine to settle U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges of fraud, manipulation and impeding whistleblower communications.
– Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell in April, slipping from their highest in nine months hit in the previous month, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday.
– Marine fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah fell to a six-month low in May, latest data showed, as tighter inventories capped uptake while lower prices at neighbouring port Khor Fakkan also drew some demand away, trade sources said.
– China’s oil refinery output slipped 1.8% from year-ago levels in May, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as refiners undertook planned maintenance overhauls and processing margins were pressured by rising crude costs.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Devika Syamnath)