Crude Oil
Crude prices began the week with a now familiar burst of optimism but settled only a little higher than Friday. Both Brent and WTI gained 17 cents each to settle at $ 46.88 / bbl and $ 44.40 / bbl. respectively.
After trading in the negative zone through most of the Asian and London trading day, crude oil prices rose sharply early morning in New York, arguably in response to the invitation to Libya and Nigeria to participate in the July 24 meeting in St. Petersburg. However, with Nigeria claiming inability to attend and Libya putting in all sorts of caveats about its ‘political, economic and humanitarian situation’, the likelihood of any significant news emanating on that front receded and prices gave up most of their gains.
Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco’s Amin Nasser warned that the world was heading for a for a global supply shortage, as the volume of conventional oil discovered over the past four years has halved compared to the previous four. He added that about $1 trillion in investments has already been lost since the current downturn.
In other news, Indian Oil Corp will be taking delivery of more than a million barrels of US heavy crude in October, a first for an Indian energy company. The deal includes 1.6 million barrels of Mars crude plus 0.4 million barrels of Western Canadian Select, to be shipped by PetroChina.
Naphtha
The physical crack for naphtha rose yesterday in the wake of falling crude oil prices. However, supplies remain ample.
The July crack is marginally stronger at -$0.20 /bbl. The August crack is at -$0.10 /bbl
Gasoline
The Gasoline physical crack eased yesterday after hitting a 4 week high on Friday last.
The July crack is marginally lower at $ 11.15 /bbl. August is valued at $ 10.45 /bbl.
Distillates
Ample supplies caused cash premia to ease out. Gasoil cracks also eased by about 25 cents with July being valued at $ 12.75 /bbl and August around $ 12.05 /bbl. The July regrade strengthened to -$0.85 /bbl. August is at -$0.45 / bbl.
Fuel Oil
Cash premia for 380 cSt cargos recovered yesterday after a lull of nearly a week. However the 180 cSt July crack returned to negative territory and is now valued at -$0.50 / bbl. The visco spread has narrowed marginally to $0.85 /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.