Asia’s middle distillates markets remained barren of physical deals, with overall spot activity continuing to be curtailed and open window discussions staying tepid.

A buy-sell gap continued to hinder deals in the open trading markets.

Meanwhile, spot market discounts widened slightly despite the lack of deals as some buying interest emerged for end-June cargoes against a backdrop of limited lower-priced sellers.

The market has seen a lack of deals in the open window for two weeks and refining margins have been fluctuating within a $1 per barrel range since mid-April, Reuters and LSEG data showed.

Refining margins declined 70 cents to around $14.20 a barrel, giving back gains in the past three trading sessions.

Jet fuel markets were also thinly discussed, with few refiners out offering July spot cargoes for now. However, some buying interest in the open trading window buoyed cash premiums for the fuel.

Regrade closed the trading session even narrower, below a discount of $1.30 a barrel, given the continuing weakness in gas oil markets.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

– No deals for both gas oil and jet fuel

INVENTORIES

– U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories increased as refining ramped up and demand fell despite the summer driving season kicking off, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

– Singapore’s middle distillates stockpiles edged up 0.4% this week, tracking lower net exports of diesel/gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene as well as continuing imports from key regions such as China, India and Saudi Arabia, official data showed on Thursday.

NEWS

– Saudi Arabia set its flagship Arab Light crude oil official selling price (OSP) to Asia at plus $2.40 versus Oman/Dubai average for July, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

– Parts of the river Rhine in south Germany remained closed to cargo shipping on Thursday after weekend rain raised water levels, but the river is falling and could reopen on Friday, authorities said.

– Trading house Trafigura posted a more than 74% drop in net profit in the first half of its 2024 financial year, the lowest since 2020 for the same period, as the extreme turbulence that defined commodity markets in recent years fizzled out.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Shreya Biswas)