Crude Oil
Oil prices retraced on Friday in a bout of profit booking before the weekend and year end. Brent crude settled 40 cents lower at $66.14 a barrel, and WTI oil also fell 40 cents to $60.82 a barrel.
For the week, Brent futures marked a rise of around 1.4% while WTI gained about 0.6%.
The Russian Foreign Minister said on Sunday that the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects would be launched despite US sanctions, adding that Russia planned to respond to the new measures, the Interfax news agency reported.
The White House does not want to see a prolonged impeachment trial in the US Senate, a senior administration official said on Sunday, suggesting the US President is comfortable with proceeding without calling witnesses in his defense. The .
A rise in the U.S. oil rig count, an indicator of future supply from the world’s largest producer, put pressure on prices. U.S. energy firms added the most oil rigs this week since February 2018, even though producers have been reducing spending on new drilling. Companies added 18 oil rigs in the week to Dec. 20, bringing the total count to 685, the most since early November.
U.S. economic growth nudged up in the third quarter, the government confirmed on Friday, and there are signs the U.S. economy more or less maintained the moderate pace of expansion as the year ended, supported by a strong labor market.
Naphtha
No fresh news on the Naphtha markets.
The January crack is higher at – $ 3.65 / bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack on Friday moved further away from a near six-month low hit earlier in the week, amid hopes that refinery turnarounds in the Middle East will help draw on Asian supplies. The gasoline crack climbed to a 1-1/2-week high of $5.91 a barrel, up from $4.84 a barrel on Wednesday.
Asia’s gasoline cracks have come under pressure for rising inventories due to the start-up of new refining capacities from the likes of Rongsheng in China and Hengyi in Brunei.
The Indian Ministry of Transport has instructed the Ministry of Petroleum to examine the possibility of supplying methanol blended gasoline in a bid to bring down it’s import bill.
Gasoline stocks in ARA fell by 39 KT to 806 KT in the week ended 19th December.
The January crack is lower at $ 6.30 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash premiums for 10ppm gasoil were at 77 cents per barrel over Singapore quotes, up from Thursday’s 74 cents per barrel.
Gasoil stocks in ARA fell by 42 KT to 2.38 Million tonnes in the week ended December 19.
Cash discounts for jet fuel were at 11 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a discount of 12 cents a barrel on Thursday.
The cash differentials for aviation fuel, however, have dropped about 128% this week as they flipped into discounts on Wednesday. Traders were concerned winter heating demand for kerosene would likely remain weak due to warmer-than-usual temperatures this year.
Winter in the Northern hemisphere typically brings strong heating demand for kerosene, especially in Japan, but temperatures in Tokyo are expected to stay mostly above normal for the next couple of weeks.
The January crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is steady at $ 14.65 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 15.45 / bbl. The regrade is at $ 0.25 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Asia’s front-month 0.5% VLSFO crack edged higher on Friday to $26.57 a barrel to Brent, amid strong demand and tightening supplies of the fuel ahead of the IMO deadline to switch to cleaner fuel.
The front-month 380-cst HSFO barge crack also firmed, jumping to a near three-month high of minus $24.11 a tonne against Brent, up from minus $25.93 a tonne on Thursday.
ARA fuel oil inventories dropped by almost 15% (148 KT) to 865 KT in the week ended December 19.
The January 180 cst crack is higher at -$ 17.90 / bbl with the visco spread at $ 2.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh action for today.
Hedge recommendations are essentially made for refiners. These are not trading positions as such. The rationale of these positions is to lock in extraordinary levels for the refiner.
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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.