Crude Oil
Brent crude prices rose 1% to their highest since early March on Thursday after major oil producers agreed to increase output by a modest 500 kbpd from January.
Brent crude rose 46 cents to $48.71 per barrel. WTI futures rose 36 cents to settle at $45.64 a barrel.
That is the highest settle for Brent since March 5 – before most countries imposed lockdowns to stop the spread of coronavirus.
OPEC+ will go month-to-month on setting output levels, aiming to release crude gradually onto the market without tipping it into a supply glut, with each monthly adjustment not exceeding 500 KB/D in either direction
S&P Global Platts said on Thursday it would open a consultation with oil market participants on the possible inclusion of the US crude grade WTI in its dated Brent oil price assessment, which forms the basis of the Brent benchmark.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 1,511,106 (+12,684 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 240,000 DoD to 18.64 million. (Click here for details).
Naphtha
No fresh news on the naphtha markets.
The December crack has jumped to – $0.55 /bbl.
The January crack is at – $0.00 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack dropped to a four-month low of 91 cents a barrel due to ample supplies.
Singapore light distillates stocks eased 336 Kb (2.7%) to a five-week low of 12.21 million barrels in the week ended Wednesday , data from Enterprise Singapore showed. But this was 8.4% higher than a year earlier.
The December crack is higher at $2.50 /bbl
The January crack is at $3.05 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash differentials for jet fuel were at a discount of 20 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, their narrowest since Nov. 10. They were at a discount of 25 cents per barrel a day earlier.
Refining margins for jet fuel rose 34 cents to $4.35 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, hitting the highest since March 30. The cracks have strengthened in recent weeks, thanks to seasonal heating demand for kerosene, and firming aviation demand from domestic routes. The jet profit margins, however, are still more than 70% lower than their historical average for this time of the year.
The prompt-month time spread for the aviation fuel in Singapore, which has been in a contango structure since March, traded at a discount of 41 cents per barrel on Thursday.
Singapore’s middle distillate inventories rose 3.1% to 15.9 million barrels in the week to Dec. 2, according to Enterprise Singapore data. Weekly Singapore middle distillate inventories have averaged about 13.7 million barrels so far in 2020. This week’s stocks were 46.4% higher year-on-year.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $4.50 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 5.30 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.65 /bbl.
The January crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is at $5.15 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 5.75 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.75 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Bunker fuel differentials for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO for December term contracts slipped from the previous month.
Singapore’s residual fuel oil inventories jumped to a near five-month high in the week to Dec. 2, climbing 7% from the previous week amid higher net import volumes. Onshore fuel oil stocks rose by 1.713 million barrels to 25.751 million barrels their highest since the week to July 15, according to the Enterprise Singapore data. Residual fuel stocks were up 16% from a year earlier.
The December crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$1.50 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.60 /bbl.
The January crack for 180 cst FO is at -$1.50 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.70 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh activity 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.