Asia’s middle distillates markets saw a slew of deals emerge on the open trading window again as buying interest resurfaced for spot early December cargoes amid lower-priced offers, though spot premiums dipped to a two-week low.
Major trading house Vitol bought three cargoes on the window, with purchases totalling 1.08 million barrels for cargoes delivering between Nov. 26 and Dec. 9 since the start of this month.
On the refiner sale front, deals for South Korea-origin barrels loading in the first-half December were mostly sealed at premiums of 10-30cents a barrel, traders said, adding that more cargoes should emerge soon give the lucrativeness in comparison with the past year.
Both GS Caltex and SK Energy have so far sold around five cargoes of 10ppm sulphur gasoil this week, they added.
Major term negotiations in northeast Asia remained underway, though price discussions were seemingly at the same level as December spot sales, two trade sources said.
Jet fuel spot sales however were seemingly thin, a third source said.
Cash differentials GO10-SIN-DIF closed the market at 80 cents a barrel, slipping for the eighth session in a row, as selling interest was aplenty.
Refining margins GO10SGCKMc1 for 10ppm sulphur gasoil gained further, reversing all of the previous sessions’ losses, to almost $16 a barrel.
Regrade JETREG10SGMc1 was little changed at a premium of around 75 cents per barrel.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– Three gasoil deals, no jet fuel deals
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil stocks fell while fuel inventories rose last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday. API/S
– Singapore’s middle distillates inventories rosefor the third straight week as net exports of both jet fuel and diesel slipped amid rising imports, official government data showed on Thursday.
REFINERY NEWS REF/OUT
– U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 563,000 barrels per day of capacity offline in the week ending Nov. 15, raising available refining capacity by 79,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Wednesday.
NEWS
– U.S. refiner margins for gasoline and diesel will be relatively unchanged next year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, signaling relief for fuel producers who saw profits slump sharply since 2022 on slowing demand growth.
– Net income at Japanese oil refiners fell in the first half of their fiscal year, but they maintained profitability and outperformed their South Korean rivals as strong domestic margins shielded them from a weak overseas market.
– The world’s oil supply will exceed demand in 2025 even if OPEC+ cuts remain in place, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly oil market report on Thursday, as rising production outside the producer group is met by sluggish global demand growth.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Shreya Biswas)