Oil climbed further from last week’s hole, encouraged by potential spending on infrastructure upgrades in America as well as on Saudi Arabia’s move to hike the selling price of its crude to customers in Asia.
Brent crude futures finished up 69 cents, or 0.8%, at $83.43. Brent hit a three-year high of $86.70 late last month, before sinking to around $80 last week.
WTI futures settled up 66 cents, or 0.8%, at $81.93 per barrel. WTI hit seven-year highs above $85 in late October, before tumbling to $78.25 on Thursday.
Oil’s seemingly invincible nine-week rally took a dent over the past two weeks as the White House upped the pressure on producer group OPEC+ to put more barrels on the market and ease prices that have jumped almost 70% this year. But in recent days, it appeared that the Biden administration might have fewer bullets to fire at the cartel than thought, amid speculation that its only recourse may be to release some of the U.S. strategic supply of petroleum — a situation unlikely to help bring the market down.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 5.06 Million (+4,595 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases was rose by 20,000 DoD at 18.72 million. (Click here for details).
Asia’s naphtha crack dipped for a third straight session on Monday as crude oil prices gained after Saudi Arabia’s state-owned producer Aramco raised the official selling price for its crude.
The crack eased to $166.33 a tonne from $167.30 on Friday. Naphtha margins have gained nearly 27% in October on the back of robust feedstock demand from petrochemical units.
The December crack is higher at $ 5.25 /bbl.
Asia’s gasoline crack eased but remained strong above $13 per barrel amid firm regional demand and tighter supplies.
The refining profit margin cooled to $13.34 a barrel from $14.34 in the last session.
The December crack is higher at $11.60 / bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premiums for 10 ppm gasoil rose on Monday, riding on active buying interests for physical cargoes, while refining profit margins for the industrial fuel edged higher on tight supplies.
Cash differentials for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content, were at a premium of 79 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, up from 78 cents per barrel on Friday.
India’s October-loading diesel exports dropped to 2.07 million tonnes, compared with 2.79 million tonnes in September, while China’s exports slumped to a six-year low of 515,000 tonnes, according to Refinitiv oil research assessments.
Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil inched up 6 cents to $14.44 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours on Monday, while the Nov/Dec time spread for the fuel grade traded at 99 cents per barrel.
Cash differentials for jet fuel dipped 4 cents to a premium of 16 cents per barrel over Singapore quotes.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $13.35 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 14.65 /bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.50 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premiums for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) rose for a second straight session on Monday, buoyed by firmer buying interests in the physical market.
Cash premiums for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO climbed to $2.95 per tonne to Singapore quotes, up from $2.08 per tonne at the end of last week.
The front-month VLSFO crack jumped to $14.47 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours on Monday, compared with $12.62 a barrel on Friday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Asia’s cash premiums for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) slipped 2 cents to 13 cents per tonne to Singapore quotes, while the Nov/Dec time spread for the 380-cst HSFO traded at 50 cents per tonne on Monday.
The December crack for 180 cst FO is lower at -$6.75 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.65 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
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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.
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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.