Crude Oil
Crude spiked sharply in reaction to an explosion on a Libyan pipeline. Brent settled $1.77 higher at $67.02 /bbl. WTI settled just under $ 60 at $ 59.97 /bbl, i.e. $ 1.50 higher. its highest close this year.
The explosion on the Es Sider pipeline could take out supply to the extent of 70 – 100 kb/d as announce by the state run NOC. The cause for armed forces blasting the pipeline was not immediately clear.
The price spike came with light volumes as London was closed for Boxing Day.
Naphtha
The Asian naphtha crack eased to $ 118.78 / MT, hurt by higher Brent crude prices. Demand continues to remain strong. Between December 15 and December 22, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia have bought more than 490,000 tonnes of naphtha last week for first-half February delivery through tenders.
The January Naphtha crack is valued lower at $ 3.35 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack at $8.22 a barrel was at its lowest since March 6 this year.
Gasoline exports from China in November were at 1.04 million tonnes, up 11.2 percent from the same month a year ago. But China halted oil products exports to North Korea in November, going above and beyond sanctions imposed earlier this year by the United Nations in a bid to limit petroleum shipments to the isolated country.
Korea’s gasoline exports surged 66% y/y to 265 kb/d, the highest level on record. Diesel exports increased 4% as well, while naphtha exports dropped 18%. Korean national data also revealed that demand is up for several products including diesel (+3.5% y/y), gasoline (+2%), naphtha (+4.8%) and jet (+8.3%).
The 92 RON January crack continues to slip to $ 11.25 /bbl.
Distillates
China’s diesel exports in November jumped to a record of 504 kb/d year on year (+214 kb/d month on month). Jet/kero exports also rose 135 kb/d month on month to 381 kb/d.
Gasoil crack is higher at $ 14.65 / bbl. today. The regrade is unchanged at $ 0.65 /bbl
Fuel Oil
The front-month 180-cst time spread flipped back into backwardation on Tuesday after trading at narrow contango for the past three sessions.
The 180 cst crack however, fell further to -$ 3.65 /bbl with the visco spread unchanged at $ 0.65 /bbl.
About this blog
This blog post attempts to give a top level summary of the Singapore market goings on to a person who seeks to obtain a directional sense of the market on a daily basis.
Disclaimer : All the views are the author’s personal views. These do not constitute an advice to buy or sell any commodity