Crude Oil
Brent oil futures on Tuesday closed at their highest since early March on hopes the United States is making progress on a new economic stimulus package.
Brent crude settled 28 cents higher at $44.43 per barrel, while WTI rose 69 cents to $41.71 a barrel.
US shale oil producer Continental Resources on Tuesday said it plans to resume most curtailed production, adding prices need to rise further for a significant rebound in overall industry activity.
China bought only 5% of the targeted $25.3 billion in energy products from the US in 1H’20, falling well short of its trade deal commitments at a time when relations between the two top economies are already sour. Beijing does not want tensions with Washington to escalate further following tit-for-tat consulate closures over the past weeks, the Chinese ambassador to the US said on Tuesday.
Growth in China’s services sector slowed in Jul’20 from a decade high the previous month, with the Caixin/Markit services PMI falling to 54.1 from 58.4 in Jun’20 as new export business fell and job losses continued.
api data
The API reported another huge drop in crude stocks yesterday. Distillate stocks, however, rose quite significantly.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 703,381 (+6,298 DoD) yesterday, with the total number of confirmed infections at 18,692,376 (+254,988 DoD). (Click here for details).
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack recovered to a three-session high of $60.85 a tonne but spot prices came under pressure.
The August crack is lower at $ -0.70 /bbl. The September crack is at -$0.85 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline margin was at a small discount of 2 cents a barrel to Brent crude, up from Monday when it sank to a discount of 74 cents.
The August crack has risen further to $1.55 /bbl. The September crack is at $1.40 / bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash premiums for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content slipped to 9 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, the lowest since June 1. They were at a premium of 17 cents per barrel a day earlier.
The August/September time spread for 10 ppm gasoil flipped to a contango structure on Tuesday to trade at a discount of 9 cents a barrel. They traded at a premium of 3 cents per barrel a day earlier.
The gasoil EFS was around minus $10 per tonne on Tuesday.
The August crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $5.05 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.25 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 3.80 /bbl.
The September crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is at $5.30 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.05 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 3.90 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
The prompt structure of Asia’s 180-cst and 380-cst HSFO fell back into contango amid relatively limited demand for cargoes of the fuel in the Singapore trading window so far this month.
A spike in cargo demand since the start of July helped boost the HSFO market over the past month but the demand momentum has cooled over the past week.
The balance of August/September time spread for 380-cst HSFO fell to a discount of 50 cents a tonne on Tuesday, down from a premium of $1.25 a tonne on Monday. Cash premiums for cargoes of 380-cst HSFO also dropped to a discount this week amid slowing demand.
The August crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $2.80 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.75 /bbl.
The September crack for 180 cst FO is at – $3.10 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.75 /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.