Asia’s middle distillates markets continued to see a flurry of activity in the open trading window, with traders still waiting for cues on August spot supplies.
Some refiners are likely to emerge in the next two trading sessions with their August-loading spot volumes, though expectations are that these could be mildly similar to July – with some mulling to still raise runs given the better complex refining margin levels since end-June.
On the ICE gasoil front, the market structure kept in contango for the second straight session this week – reflecting weaker prompt price performance given a lack of positive drivers.
Refining margins sank for the second consecutive session to almost $16.50 a barrel.
Spot market discounts rose 2 cents from the previous session, reflecting the stronger buying interest and a lack fewer lower-priced offers in the open trading window.
On the jet fuel front, traders were eyeing the sale price of South Korea-origin cargoes for August after one major kickstarted their spot tender sales.
Regrade rose slightly to lower than a $1 a barrel discount mirroring the weakness in gasoil futures.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– One gasoil deal, one jet fuel deal.
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil and product stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. EIA/S
REFINERY NEWS
– Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC.N began preparing on Monday to restart multiple units at its Galveston Bay oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, following a power outage earlier in the day, people familiar with the plant operations said.
– Phillips 66 on Monday reported that units at its 265,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Sweeny refinery in Texas were operating normally after an upset caused by Hurricane Beryl, according to a regulatory filing.
NEWS
– BP expects lower realised refining margins and weak oil trading to hurt its second-quarter earnings, the oil firm said on Tuesday.
– Saudi crude oil exports to China will rebound in August to at least 44 million barrels after deep price cuts by state energy firm Saudi Aramco supported demand, several trade sources said on Tuesday.
– A double whammy of record heat and hurricanes should test U.S. refiners’ resilience in coming weeks, raising the risk of extremely volatile fuel prices in the middle of the peak travel season, analysts said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)