We apologize for the irregularity of publication over the last couple of weeks and promise to resume on a regular basis from today.
Crude Oil
Oil prices settled up more than 2% on Monday after trading higher earlier in the day as Moderna Inc said its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Brents future rose $1.04 to settle at $43.82 a barrel. WTI crude futures rose $1.21 to $41.34 per barrel.
China’s crude oil throughput rose 2.6% in October from a year earlier to its highest-ever level of nearly 14.1 million bpd, as fuel demand firmed on strong holiday travel. This surpassed the previous record in June at 14.08 million bpd.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 1,331,751 (+7,305 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 170,000 over the weekend to 15.52 million. (Click here for details).
Naphtha
No fresh news on the Naphtha markets.
The December crack is higher at – $0.35 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack fell for a third straight session on Monday to reach a 2-1/2-month low of $1.53 a barrel on ample supplies.
The December crack is lower at $2.00 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Asia’s benchmark 10ppm diesel crack eased to two-session low of $4.55 a barrel on Monday as higher raw material oil prices and concerns over demand recovery weighed.
India’s diesel sales dipped in the first half of November after briefly recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in October.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is steady at $3.65 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 4.45 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Cash premiums of Asia’s 180-cst and 380-cst HSFO firmed on Monday. The premiums held firm despite the cancellation of Pakistan’s tender to import up to 260,000 tonnes of HSFO over the first half of December after it was able to source alternative sources of power generation feedstocks.
Singapore sales of marine fuels slipped to a two-month low of 4.152 million tonnes in October as fewer ships called at the city-state to load fuel.
Bunkering volumes, however, jumped 10% from a year earlier, marking a fourth straight year-on-year gain and underscoring the rapid recovery in ship refuelling activities to above pre-coronavirus levels.
The December crack for 180 cst FO is lower at -$0.35 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.80 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh activity 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 refinery.
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.