Asia’s refining margins for 10 ppm grade gasoil declined on Friday after European inventories rose by 12%, denting demand sentiment.
Brent did a final trade of $100.60 after settling the official session at $100.99, up $1.65, or 1.7%. For the week, Brent was up 4.4%, versus the previous week’s slide of 1.5%,
WTI did a final trade of $92.97 after settling the official session at $93.06, up 54 cents, or 0.6%. For the week, WTI showed a gain of 2.5%, after the previous week’s drop of 1.4%.
Money managers raised their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to Aug. 23 by 24,215 contracts to 179,039, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.
The number of active oil rigs in the US rose by 3 to 601 according to the weekly report released by Baker-Hughes.
Asia’s naphtha crack plunged to the lowest since June 16 at a discount of $78.63 a tonne from a discount of $76.63 a tonne on Thursday.
Naphtha stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose by 12% to 456,000 tonnes as gasoline blending demand rose and as low water levels along the Rhine limited demand.
The September crack is lower at -$ 22.20 per barrel
Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin posted a weekly loss of more than 38% amid weak demand from China and stock build ups at major trading hubs. The crack weakened to $8.55 a barrel on Friday from $9.25 a barrel in the last session. However, the downside remained capped due to unplanned outages at Asia’s top exporter Taiwan’s Formosa and South Korea’s third largest refiner S-Oil earlier this week.
Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose by 11% to 1.529 million tonnes as exports to the United States came to a halt, while shipments to other areas were limited, Insights Global data showed.
The September crack is lower at $7.60 per barrel.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s refining margins for jet fuel and gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content rose on Thursday despite a muted trading window, after stocks in the Singapore hub fell to an eleven-week low.
Cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil stood at a premium of $1.83 a barrel to Singapore quotes, up from $1.51 in the previous session.
Refining margins or cracks for 10 ppm gasoil slipped to $54.21 a barrel over Dubai crude in Asian trading hours, compared with $57.19 on Thursday.
Cash differentials for jet spiked to a premium of $1.05 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, up from a premium of 81 cents a barrel in the previous session.
Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area jumped by 12% to 1.696 million tonnes as barges could only transport 300-400 tonnes in the week to Thursday, Insights Global data showed. Jet Fuel stocks declined to 802,000 tonnes from 847,000 tonnes in the week, the data showed.
The September crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is lower at $50.10 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack $54.10 /bbl. The 10 ppm regrade is at -$6.40 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premium for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) fell to the lowest in nine months on Friday as more competitive offers emerged and traded versus the previous day.
The 0.5% VLSFO cash differential dipped 67 cents to a premium of $9.36 per tonne over Singapore quotes, sliding for seven consecutive sessions.
The 380-cst HSFO cash differential in Asia rose 28 cents day-on-day to a premium of $4.11 per tonne on Friday, but posted a weekly decline of more than 45%.
Fuel oil inventories in the ARA refining and storage hub rose 4% to 1.27 million tonnes in the week ended Aug. 25, latest data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
The September crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $19.55 /bbl with the visco spread at $4.10 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
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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.