Asia’s middle distillates markets continued to see a flurry of deals in the open window, but discount levels remained in almost similar levels from the previous session against a backdrop of ample supply.
Traders were still cautious-to-bearish on the overall market fundamentals, given the weakness in buying interest for August spot cargoes – as evidenced from deals being done at discount levels.
Talks of a switch in dirty to clean tanker usage for the east-west trade flow died down after last month’s bullish expectations as there is minimal buying appetite and crude markets seem to have rebounded slightly, two sources said.
Only two vessels so far – Plata Glory and KHK Empress – are shipping gasoil from the Middle East to west of Suez markets, Kpler and Vortexa shiptracking data showed.
Refining margins hovered close to a one-month low at $15.76 a barrel, a reflection of the poor demand-supply fundamentals.
Spot market discounts closed the trading session lower, reversing some of previous sessions’ gains to 16 cents a barrel.
At least five jet fuel cargoes were sold in total for mostly first-half August loading at discounts of $1.50-2 a barrel, as key oil majors SK Energy, GS Caltex and Rongsheng PC were out in the market for spot sales.
Talks of some of these cargoes heading to Japan were prevalent in the market, but details could not be confirmed yet, with an Australia-based refiner also being the possible buyer.
Regrade was little changed from the previous trading session at a discount of around $1.10 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Neste will likely supply Pertamina end-August arrival blended sustainable aviation fuel after the refiner sought for spot cargoes earlier.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– One 10ppm gasoil deal, one jet fuel deal
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week while gasoline and distillates rose, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
– Middle distillates inventories held at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone rose for the fourth straight week to 3.204 million barrels for the week ended July 15, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.
REFINERY NEWS
– Exxon Mobil shut down its 251,800-barrel-per-day refinery at Joliet, Illinois, due to a power outage after a storm, according to a filing late on Monday.
NEWS
– Japan plans to increase jet fuel production and imports to address a pick up in demand from flights amid a boom in tourism, according to a draft government plan presented on Tuesday.
– Dutch tank storage firm Vopak it has opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan, to provide terminal infrastructure solutions for a variety of products to be used in the country’s energy transition, it said on Wednesday.
– Oil prices eased on Wednesday, with global benchmark Brent hovering near a one-month low hit in the prior session on signs of weakening demand in China, although losses were capped by declining U.S. oil stockpiles.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Tasim Zahid)