Asia’s refining margin for gasoil fell to its lowest in five weeks, weighed by sufficient supply and inventories in the region despite capped Chinese exports.
The prompt-month crack for 10ppm sulphur gasoil slipped to a premium of about $14.60 a barrel on Wednesday, based on LSEG data.
However, a firmer-priced spot trade lifted its cash premium up slightly on Wednesday, with Vitol buying a cargo from Aramco for prompt dates in the H2-December laycan.
Meanwhile, jet fuel firmed in recent sessions, with cash premium holding near a three-week high, though trade sources said the strength is unlikely to last as supply was ample while demand did not pick up significantly despite the winter season.
The regrade spread continued to narrow day-on-day, closing at 30 cents a barrel on Wednesday, showed LSEG data.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– One gasoil deal, no jet fuel deal.
INVENTORIES
– Middle distillate inventories held at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone climbed for a third consecutive week to 2.39 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 2, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.
REFINERY NEWS
– Valero Energy Corp has reported an unexpected issue with a mechanical failure at its 145,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) California Benicia refinery.
NEWS
– Venezuela’s oil exports jumped last month on higher sales to its mainstay Asia customers, and approached 1 million barrels per day, a level not seen since early 2020, according to ship monitoring data.
– Russia’s exports of ultra low-sulphur diesel (ULSD) from the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk are set to rise by 23.2% in December to 1.4 million metric tons from 1.1 million scheduled for November, two traders said on Tuesday.
– Consumption of renewable diesel on the U.S. East Coast has been on the rise, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday, but the upcoming Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit could shift trade dynamics and weigh on importers that supply over half of the fuel to the region.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Vijay Kishore)