Crude Oil
Crude prices ended marginally lower in a day of tentative trading. Brent settled 12 cents lower at $56.00 /bbl. WTI too settled 16 cents lower at $50.42 /bbl.
Uncertainty, coupled with a bit of scepticism was the flavor of the market yesterday as traders mulled over the possible impact of higher prices on US production. Traders therefore appeared to looking to take profits and then looking to stock data for further direction in the immediate future.
API Data
The API reported that Crude Oil inventories had dropped by nearly 4.1 million barrels last week. While this was a lot more than expected, stocks in Cushing rose by 2 million barrels which somewhat negates the bullish impact of this draw. Further, gasoline inventories rose by 4.9 million barrels, once again, a lot larger than expected. Distillates drew by 564 kb. This too was less than expected.
The basic inference being drawn is that, even at levels of current supply, there does not seem to be scope for a demand growth in products to impact crude prices and spur them much higher.
Naphtha
That naphtha demand is strong is being underpinned by a backwardation of $4.50 /MT between H2 November and H2 December deliveries. This level has not been seen since mid May 2017.
The October crack, though, is unchanged at $ 2.0 /bbl
Gasoline
The gasoline crack appears to have strengthened notwithstanding the API day as fresh buying from Pertamina was seen in the market.
The October 92 Ron crack is valued at $ 10.80 /bbl.
Distillates
While the distillate cash differentials are pretty much constant, the crack has eased even further
The October crack is valued today at $12.50 /bbl. Jet has not fallen as much resulting in the regrade returning to positive territory at $ 0.10 /bbl
Fuel Oil
Fuel Oil time spreads have dropped by over $ 1 / MT overnight. However, the sentiment remains bullish as traders expect lower supplies this month. .
The October crack is lower at -$2.70 / bbl. The visco spread is lower at $ 0.55 /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