Asia’s refining margins for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil fell to three-month lows on Friday, as the market remains pressured by prospects of higher supplies.
Gasoil cracks fell to $22.22 a barrel at the Asia close, while spot cash premiums inched lower at $1.72 a barrel.
Benchmark prices are likely to be skewed to the downside for the near term, said LSEG Oil Research this week, as the market is weighed by expectations of rising supplies with refineries returning from turnarounds.
“Most of the East Asian barrels are likely to remain within the region, with West-bound cargoes to comprise mainly of Indian cargoes amid a narrow EFS (exchange of futures for swaps),” said Charles Ong, a senior analyst at LSEG Oil Research.
Jet fuel refining margins also slipped to $19.47 a barrel on Friday, while the regrade spread widened to $2.75 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s sought gasoil and gasoline for delivery in early December, in a tender that closed this week.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No deal for jet fuel, two deals for gasoil.
INVENTORIES
– Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub edged higher to 1.86 million tons in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
– U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.2 million barrels in the week to Oct. 13 at 113.8 million barrels, versus expectations for an 1.4 million-barrel drop, EIA data showed.
REFINERY NEWS
– U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of capacity offline for the week ending Oct. 20, decreasing available refining capacity by 94,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Friday.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices gained on Friday and were on track to rise for a second week on heightened fears that the Israel-Gaza crisis may spread in the Middle East and disrupt supply from one of the world’s top-producing regions.
– Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras said on Thursday it will cut the prices of gasoline sold to distributors and raise those for diesel starting on Oct. 21.
– Rising costs of crude oil are squeezing profits at China’s independent refineries amid stiff competition for limited Russian supply, while the price of Venezuelan crude gains ground after the U.S. freed up sanctions on its industry.
– Vietnam is seeking investment from oil giant Saudi Aramco 2223.SE in its petrochemical and oil refinery projects, the Southeast Asian country’s government said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)