Crude Oil
Oil prices were up more than 1% on Monday.
Brent crude settled 65 cents higher at $44.15 per barrel, while WTI rose 74 cents to $41.01 a barrel.
Oil prices were up more than 1% on Monday on positive economic data from the US, Europe and Asia, but investors remained concerned about rising COVID-19 cases globally and oversupply as OPEC begins to lift supply cuts.
Venezuela’s overall oil production rebounded to an average 310 KB/D in Jul’20, a 30 KB/D increase from 280 KB/D in Jun’20, according to daily production reports produced by state-owned PDVSA and reviewed by S&P Global Platts.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 696,823 (+4,372 DoD) yesterday, with the total number of confirmed infections at 18,435,432 (+199,861 DoD). (Click here for details).
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack touched $52.08 a tonne, down from $60.43 last Thursday. This is the lowest since June 9.
The August crack is higher at $ -0.60 /bbl
Gasoline
Asia gasoline crack hit a discount of 74 cents a barrel to Brent crude, compared with a small premium on July 30. This is the lowest since June 2.
The August crack has flipped back to positive territory at $0.95 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash discounts for jet fuel were at 41 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Monday, compared with a 45-cent discount on Thursday.
The August/September time spread for the aviation fuel in Singapore widened its steep contango by 2 cents to trade at a discount of 45 cents a barrel on Monday.
Global flying capacity increased 4.3% on the week to 60 million seats for the week starting 3 Aug’20, but this is still 49.6% less than a year earlier, OAG said. Western Europe benefited from the strongest weekly growth with a 14.6% increase and the addition of 1.524 million seats.
The August crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is lower at $4.80 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.00 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 4.20 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
An absence of buying interest for cargoes of Asia’s 380-cst HSFO sent cash premiums of the fuel lower on Monday. August’s first trading session marked the first time no HSFO cargo trades were reported since cargo trading activity spiked at the start of July.
The 380-cst HSFO cash premium dropped to a three-session low of 63 cents a tonne to Singapore quotes, down from a premium of $2.04 a tonne in the previous session.
Meanwhile, Asia’s front-month 380-cst HSFO crack crude was trading lower on Monday to a four-session low of minus $3.50 a barrel against Dubai crude.
HSFO cracks were under pressure due to increasing heavy sour crude supplies as OPEC and its partners begin ease crude oil production cuts in August but were supported by firm refining demand and tight supplies.
The August crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $2.45 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.65 /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.