Crude OilCovid StatsNaphthaGasolineDisitllatesFuel OilHedge Strategy

Oil prices rose roughly 2% on Thursday on indications that OPEC+ producers could increase output more slowly than expected in coming months, while rising global fuel demand causes supply to tighten.

Brent Crude  settled at $75.84 a barrel, up $1.22, or 1.6%. WTI crude settled at $75.23 a barrel, gaining $1.76, or 2.4%.

OPEC+ delayed its ministerial meeting until Friday to hold more talks on oil output policy, OPEC+ sources said on Thursday, after the UAE blocked a plan for an immediate easing of cuts and their extension to the end of 2022.

Iran has been restricting UN nuclear inspectors’ access to its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, citing security concerns after what it says was an attack on the site by Israel in Apr’21, diplomats say.

At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 3.97 Million (+8,297 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by 70,000 DoD to 11.52 million. (Click here for details).

Asia’s naphtha crack was assessed at $118.03 per tonne, from $108.13 per tonne in the previous session.

The July crack is higher at $1.50 / bbl

Asia’s gasoline crack was assessed at $7.47 per barrel, from $7.25 per barrel in the previous session.

Light distillate inventories in Singapore dropped 724,000 barrels to a three-week low of 12.758 million barrels in the week to June 30, according to Enterprise Singapore data

The July crack is higher at 9.80 / bbl

Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.

Asia’s cash differentials weakened to their lowest levels in over two weeks on Thursday, weighed down by sluggish demand amid extended COVID-19 restrictions in the region, while middle distillate inventories in Singapore rose to a seven-week high.

Cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil widened to a discount of 11 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday, the biggest discounts since June 14.

Singapore’s middle distillate inventories rose 5.3% to 13.8 million barrels in the week to June 30, according to Enterprise Singapore data. Weekly Singapore middle distillate inventories have averaged 13.7 million barrels this year, compared with an average of 13.9 million barrels in 2020, Reuters calculations showed. This week’s stocks were 2.8% higher than a year earlier.

Cash differentials for jet fuel widened by 5 cents to a discount of 46 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday.

The July crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $5.70 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 7.10 /bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.35 /bbl. 

Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.

Cash differentials for Asia’s 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and both grades of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) all flipped to a premium on Thursday, from discounts in the previous session, amid firmer buying interest and expectations of gradually tightening supplies, trade sources said.

Singapore fuel oil stocks rose by 547,000 barrels, or about 86,000 tonnes, to a two-week high of 23.95 million barrels, or 3.77 million tonnes, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Compared with a year earlier, the residual fuel stocks were 5% lower, but slightly above the 2021 weekly average of 23.27 million barrels.

Fuel oil inventories in the Fujairah bunkering and storage hub dropped 8% to an 11-week low in the week ended June 28, data released on Wednesday showed. Inventories for heavy distillates and residues fell by 1.08 million barrels, or about 171,000 tonnes, to 11.86 million barrels, or 1.87 million tonnes

The June crack for 180 cst FO is lower at  -$6.25 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.25 /bbl.

Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.

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.

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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.

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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