29 Mar 2017
oil-barrel

Crude Oil

Crude prices rallied strongly yesterday.  Brent settled at $ 51.33 / bbl, up 58 cents on the day. WTI rose by 64 cents to settle at $ 48.77 /bbl.
The immediate reason given for  this rise was reports that Libyan production of 252 kbpd would be curtailed due to the actions of armed protesters.  This was tagged to the possibility of an extension in the OPEC production cuts.

This price action gives us some good insights into the mindset of the market.  A couple of weeks ago, production of 200 kbpd was cut off in Libya due to protests at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports.  This did not stop markets in their downward momentum.

The API data continued to show builds in crude as expected. Crude built by 1.9 Million barrels.  Gasoline drew by 1.1 million barrels and distillates drew by 2 million barrels.  Once again, both draws were largely expected.

Once again, we have some renewed optimism among the bulls in the markets that the production cuts will be extended.  We have a fundamental question to ask here.  If the cuts will impact prices in the future, why are you making everybody pay high prices today?

Naphtha
The Naphtha crack continues to remain firm.  The MOPJ crack for April is valued at $ 1.0 /bbl.  The Singapore Naphtha crack for April is around -$ 0.8 / bbl.

Gasoline 

The gasoline crack too has strengthened. April is valued at $ 11.5 /bbl.  The May – June spread is valued at 35 cents.

Middle Distillates

Distillates too recovered smartly yesterday.  The crack for April is valued at $ 11.6 / bbl.  Jet continues to underperform.  The April regrade is now valued at  – $ 0.55.  The regrade for May is returning to negative territory at – $ 0.1 / bbl
180 CST Fuel Oil

Fuel Oil cracks recovered a little today. However, the market still seems oversupplied. The current value for the April  -$ 4.15/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

 

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