Asia’s middle distillates markets started the week with a slew of deals on the physical trading window, though paper activity remained dull while term discussions for next year remained underway.
Some term negotiations were closed for 2025 loading cargoes at slight premiums, but overall deals were sealed at lower levels compared with a year earlier.
More offers and discussions were underway for jet fuel, with one of South Korea’s key oil majors SK Energy out in the market for the first time in a long while.
Refining margins gained by around $1 to slightly above $16 a barrel, reflecting the fast paced crude declines in comparison with gasoil paper markets.
Spot premiums for 10ppm sulphur gasoil continue to ease, falling to 60 cents a barrel and reversing gains made in early November.
Cash premiums for jet fuel slipped to a one-month low of 15 cents per barrel, a reflection of the lower-priced deals on window.
A narrower backwardation was also the key reason for declines in spot premiums overall, one source said.
Regrade, however, hovered at premiums of 75 cents a barrel, with gasoil paper markets still performing weaker than jet fuel.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– Two gasoil deals, no jet fuel deals.
REFINERY NEWS
– PBF Energy PBF.N began restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana refinery on Friday, said people familiar with plant operations.
NEWS
– Sinopec Corp said on Monday the company and Saudi Aramco have started constructing a refinery and petrochemical complex in southeast China’s Fujian province.
– Oil prices edged up on Monday after fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensified over the weekend, although concerns about fuel demand in China and forecasts of a global oil surplus weighed on markets.
– China’s refined fuel exports fell to an 18-month low in October, customs data showed on Monday, as weak export margins continued to weigh on shipments.
– Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery has applied for government financial help mainly due to high interest rates and facility modernisation, it said on Monday, but added there was no risk of it shutting down and that it remained profitable.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)