Crude Oil
Oil futures had a mixed day on Thursday as markets still clung on to hopes about resolution in the US – China trade talks. Brent crude futures settled at $70.39 a barrel, just 2 cents higher. WTI crude futures, however, fell 42 cents to settle at $61.70 a barrel.
Prices bounced off session lows after Trump said he received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump quoted the letter as saying: “Let’s work together let’s see if we can get something done.” The trade row has dragged economic growth in Asia and a breakdown in Sino-American negotiations could call global crude demand forecasts into question.
Naphtha
Asia’s Naphtha crack rose 8.32 percent or $3.13 to a two-session high of $40.73 a tonne after falling almost a three-month low in the previous day.
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The May crack is lower at – $ 6.70 /bbl
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack edged up 15 cents to $2.83 a barrel from a nine-week low but the current level was 59 percent lower than just a week ago.
Light distillate stocks in Singapore dropped by 1.1 million barrels to 12.32 million barrels, a 6 month low.
Nevertheless, traders looked past the higher cracks, saying that ample supplies would likely to keep the light distillates market weak.
The May crack is higher at $ 4.85 / bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash discounts for 10ppm gasoil were at 11 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday, compared with a discount of 14 cents per barrel in the previous session.
Middle Distillate Stocks in Singapore decreased by 1.13 million barrels to 9.61 million barrels.
Cash differentials for jet fuel were at a discount of 51 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, the widest discount since early February. They were at a discount of 50 cents per barrel a day earlier. The physical jet fuel market in the Singapore trading window remained quiet with no bids or deals on Thursday.
Asia-Pacific airlines posted a 2 percent increase in March passenger demand, compared to the same month last year, but was down from a 4 percent growth in February, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement on Wednesday. The March results, however, were stronger on a seasonally adjusted basis, IATA said.
The May crack for 500 ppm Gasoil has dropped to $ 12.50 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at 13.20 / bbl. The regrade has improved to -$ 0.30 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Cash discounts for Asia’s 380 cst high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) widened on Thursday as physical trade activity for cargoes spiked in the Singapore trading window.
Discounts were at minus $1.83 a tonne to Singapore quotes, down from minus $1.70 in the previous session. The cash discount was last wider on April 16 at minus $2.13 a tonne.
A total of 200 KT of cargoes traded in the Singapore window on Thursday, the highest volume since March 4, when 240 KT was traded.
The weaker 380 cst cash differential also helped to lift the viscosity spread. The spread rose to a more than three-year high of $15.39 a tonne on Thursday, up from $14.48 in the previous session and its highest since September 2015.
Singapore fuel oil inventories jumped 12 percent to a more than two-year high of 26.5 million barrels in the week ended May 8.
The May 180 cst crack is lower at – $ 2.95 / bbl with the visco spread at $ 1.80 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
Nothing fresh to report today.
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Click Here to see how all our recommendations have fared
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.