Crude Oil
Oil prices eased on Thursday as more news of increasing OPEC production and exports kept coming in. Brent settled at $52.01 /bbl, down 35 cents while WTI settled at $49.03 /bbl, down 56 cents.
Overall, crude oil prices seem to have found a tighter range to fluctuate in i.e. a four dollar band of $ 48-$52.50 /bbl for Brent vis a vis $ 45- $55 earlier. More information is needed to push prices outside this band in either direction. Technically though, for now, Brent remains in a bullish phase, trading above the 200 DMA (at $ 51.58) which should act as a good support.
Naphtha
The Naphtha crack in the prompt improved today. However supplies seem to be plentiful with around 1.3 million tons of Naphtha being expected to be shipped to the East from Europe and the Mediterranean area. This is 16% high than the 2016 average.
The August crack is at around $1.30/bbl.
Gasoline
Gasoline cracks stocks in Asia drew by close to 1.5 million barrels this week to 12.82 million tons. Apart from a record 230 million tons being shipped to Iran this week, the other remarkable statistic was that Iran was an importer of gasoline this week whereas it had exported gasoline in the previous week to Singpore.
The August crack is valued slightly higher at $ 12.50 /bbl today.
Distillates
Gasoil and Jet margins improved as arbitrage economics appeared to make shipment of product to the West viable. This may also be aided by a drop close to 5% in Distillate stocks in Singapore to 13 million tons.
However, the paper cracks seem to have taken a serious tumble. The August gasoil crack is 70 cents lower at $ 13.35 /bbl. The regrade is at -$0.60 / bbl. once again underlining the fact that the entire volatility is in gasoil.
Fuel Oil
Fuel Oil stocks in Singapore declined by 1.3 million barrels last week. However, lack of serious buying interest and perhaps high crude prices impacted demand. Secondly, supplies into Singapore are expected to be higher than in July, further capping prices.
The 180 cst August crack is at -$2.10 / bbl. The visco spread is at $0.80 /bbl.
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