11 Apr 2017

Crude Oil

Crude oil continued to gain in strength on Monday as well. Brent futures rose by 74 cents to settle at $ 55.98 / bbl while WTI gained  84 cents to settle at $ 53.08 /bbl.

As we have been mentioning earlier, the market is extremely nervous and is reacting to every sign of disruption in supplies.  While there is already political tension regarding Syria as Russia protested American action, the Sharara field in Libya once again shut down as armed forces blocked production there.

Funds extended their net length in Brent futures and options during the week ended 11th April by 30,563 lots to 403,319 contracts. WTI futures and options also saw an increase in net length by23,035 contracts to 292,478 contracts.

What is notable about the net Brent length is that it has come about by the reduction of shorts as well which is an indication that the speculative shorts are tending to exit positions

Naphtha

Naphtha markets showed strong recovery in the prompt. However, the forward market eased dramatically as rising crude prices and falling LPG prices reduced demand for the product. The April Japan Naphtha Crack is valued at $ 0.3 /bbl while the May crack is valued at – $ 0.25 /bbl.  Singapore Naphtha is valued at -$ 0.9 /bbl in April and -$1.9 in May

Gasoline 

Gasoline cracks came off as well. The April crack is valued at  $ 12.3 /bbl. The May-June spread came in yesterday with trades being reported to have been done yesterday at 25 cents / bbl. The value for the spread today is similar.

Middle Distillates

Diesel crack prices are relatively steady today. The value of the April Gasoil crack is $ 11.7 / bbl and May is $11.25/bbl.  However, jet prices have eased out a bit. The regrade for April is at -$ 0.3.  The May regrade too has also fallen to $ 0.09 /bbl today.

180 CST Fuel Oil

Singapore Fuel oil once again saw a lot of activity in the window with 180 KT of 380 cst being traded bringing the total traded for the month to 1.44 million tons.

However, buyers appeared wary and tended to stay clear of the plays going on.  Balance April has receided to  -$ 3.7 /bbl and May at -$4.0 /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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