Oil bulls saw their multi-week win on Brent come to a close but still managed to deny bears joy over U.S. crude, which finished up on the day and just a little lower than a week earlier.
Brent crude finished Friday’s trading up 6 cents, or 0.07%, at $84.38 per barrel. For the week though, Brent fell $1.15, or 1.3%. It was Brent’s first week in the negative after seven straight weeks of wins. Brent, however, still rose 7.5% on the month and is up around 61% on the year.
WTI crude settled up 76 cents, or 0.9%, on the day at $83.57 per barrel. That made WTI take a nominal loss of 19 cents, or 0.2%, on the week. For the month, WTI was still up 11% while rising 72% on the year.
The number of active oil rigs in the US increased by 1 to 444 rigs in the past week according to consultant Baker-Hughes.
Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to Oct. 26, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 5.01 Million (+4,595 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by 60,000 DoD to 18.32 million. (Click here for details).
China has reported a spike in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases over the last couple of weeks, but although the current tally is relatively small compared with infections elsewhere in the world, the spread to more than a dozen provincial areas has forced officials to toughen restrictions..
Asia’s naphtha crack climbed to the highest in over seven years on Friday, and posted a weekly gain on the back of firm seasonal demand from petrochemical units.
Asia’s naphtha crack climbed to the highest in over seven years on Friday, and posted a weekly gain on the back of firm seasonal demand from petrochemical units.
Despite rising naphtha premiums, robust ethylene cracker and gasoline blending margins in Asia have pushed up naphtha demand, with arrivals into the region projected to reach the highest level seen since last June, according to consultancy Vortexa.
The November crack is higher at $5.5 / bbl.
Asia’s gasoline crack continued to ease as it ended the month strong.
The crack eased to $14.65 a barrel from $16.90 in the last session. The refining profit margin for gasoline has nearly doubled this month due to a rise in demand arising from easing of COVID-19 curbs in the region.
Gasoline stocks held in ARA rose by 17% to 905,000 tonnes in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
The November crack is higher at $15.30 / bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premiums for 10 ppm gasoil rose to their strongest for this week on Friday, buoyed by steady buying interests for physical cargoes amid limited supplies, while refining margins for the industrial fuel slipped for a second consecutive week.
Cash differentials for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content, which have gained about 38% over the last two weeks, were at a premium of 73 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, up from 62 cents per barrel on Thursday.
Refining profit margins or cracks for 10 ppm gasoil, however, dipped to $13.27 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with $13.62 per barrel a day earlier.
Gasoil stocks held ARA fell 6.8% to 2.04 million tonnes in the week ended Oct. 28, according to Dutch consultancy Insights Global.
Cash differentials for jet fuel were at a premium of 21 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, 9 cents higher from a day earlier.
ARA jet fuel inventories climbed 3.5% this week to 915,000 tonnes.
The November crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $11.75 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 13.05 /bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Cash premiums for cargoes of Asia’s 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) rose to a five-week high on Friday, lifted by stronger deal values in the Singapore window.
VSLFO cash premiums climbed to $2.67 a tonne to Singapore quotes, up from $2.02 a tonne on Thursday and their highest since Sept. 22.
The VLSFO front-month crack also rose 13 cents a barrel to $12.68 above Dubai crude, ending a week long losing streak despite firming crude prices.
Fuel oil stocks in the ARA refining and storage slipped 2%, or by 19,000 tonnes, to 1.016 million tonnes in the week ended Oct. 28, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global (IG) showed. The ARA fuel oil inventories were last lower in March 2020. Compared with last year, the inventories at the ARA hub were 26% lower and below the five-year seasonal average of 1.142 million tonnes.
The November crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$7.70 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.75 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
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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.
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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.