Asia’s middle distillates markets recorded more October refiner selling interest, in line with earlier expectations, though open trading window activity was mostly muted.
South Korea’s SK Energy continued their slew of sales activity, offering two spot cargoes via a tender closing on Tuesday.
More offers are expected to emerge in the next few trading sessions as sellers continue clearing their October selling requirements, though some traders are expecting China-origin volumes to be curtailed because of volatile export margins.
Refining margins for 10ppm sulphur gasoil were at nearly three-year lows, weighed on by little changed paper markets and overall stronger crude prices.
Spot discounts on the open trading window held steady from the previous trading session, owing to a buy-sell gap in the open trading window and lack of lower-priced sellers.
Meanwhile, weakness in jet fuel markets was less pronounced, given some short-covering demand still evident in the regional markets.
Regrade flipped back into a premium of 25 cents a barrel, hovering at a three-month high as a reflection of this.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No gasoil deal, one jet fuel deal.
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while gasoline inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
REFINERY NEWS
– Russia’s primary oil refining capacity is expected to rise in the second half of September as refineries are wrapping up their maintenance, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources.
NEWS
– Indian state retailers’ diesel sales fell in the first half of September from the previous month, preliminary sales data showed on Monday, as monsoon rains hit industrial activity and mobility.
– Investors were more bearish than ever on crude oil last week, deepening a months-long selloff that pressured prices to multi-year lows amid growing concerns of weak demand in top consuming nations.
– Libyan crude exports reached about 550,000 barrels per day last week, a three-fold increase on the previous week, according to data from analytics firm Kpler and a shipping agent.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Shreya Biswas)