Crude Oil
Oil prices continued to rise as freezing weather in Texas caused electricity blackouts and disrupted flows from the biggest US shale patch.
Brent settled at $63.30 /bbl, up 87 cents. At the time of settle WTI crude was trading around $60.13 /bbl, up 66 cents.
The latest in a series of cold snaps have provided a bigger-than-expected boost to oil consumption since the start of the year. The North Sea oil market, which helps price more than two-thirds of the world’s crude, also saw its biggest spate of bullish activity in years. Traders lined up to place bids for 20 cargoes in the market, with virtually all of them going unanswered.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 2,418,211 (+6,573 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases fell by around 170,000 DoD to 22.90 million. We have to take this data with a pinch of salt as the data seems to have been recalibrated. (Click here for details)
Naphtha
No fresh news on the Naphtha markets.
The March crack is higher at $0.45/bbl
Gasoline
No fresh news on the gasoline markets.
The March crack is at $5.75 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash differentials for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content were at a narrow premium of 1 cent a barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a discount of 4 cents per barrel on Thursday.
Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil also rose on Monday, hovering close to multi-month highs touched last week, buoyed by expectations for firmer demand and tighter supplies in coming months.
The regional gasoil market is expected to strengthen further as countries roll out wider vaccinations in coming days that would boost economic recovery and fuel demand, market watchers said.
Cash discounts for jet fuel were greater at 10 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes as compared to 5 cents per barrel on Thursday last.
The March crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $6.45 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 7.65 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Asia’s front-month price differentials between 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), also known as the HiLo spread, rebounded on Monday, rising towards an 11-month high hit less than a week ago, according to Refinitiv data in Eikon.
The front-month HiLo spread climbed to $116.50 a tonne on Monday, up 50 cents from the previous session and near an 11-month high of $120 a tonne on Tuesday.
The March crack for 180 cst FO is at -$2.55 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.25 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh action 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.