Oil prices fell Monday as worries about the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the continued Saudi-UAE standoff in OPEC kept buyers away as the market began a new week.
Brent Crude slid 39 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $75.16 per barrel.
WTI crude futures settled down 46 cents, or 0.6%, at $74.10 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter, will supply full contractual volumes of August-loading crude to at least five Asian customers, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.
Portfolio managers took profits on their bullish petroleum positions after OPEC+ failed to reach agreement on increasing production and U.S. oil prices hit their highest level since late 2014. Hedge funds and other money managers cut their combined position in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts by the equivalent of 63 million barrels to 877 million barrels in the week to July 6.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 4.06 Million (+6,443 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases shot up by 20,000 DoD to 12.01 million. (Click here for details).
Thailand implemented its toughest coronavirus restrictions in more than a year on Monday in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, with new curbs on movement and gatherings imposed and widespread suspensions by airlines and bus firms.
Asia’s naphtha crack was assessed at $133.55 per tonne, its highest since Nov. 13, 2017, from $127.53 per tonne last Friday.
The August crack is higher at $3.25 / bbl
Asia’s gasoline crack was assessed at $8.94 per barrel, their highest since July 6, 2021, from $8.87 per barrel in the previous session.
The August crack is unchanged at $10.90 / bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil, which have doubled their discounts over the last three weeks, were at a discount of 14 cents per barrel on Monday.
Gasoil exports from India are expected to be around 2.5-3 million tonnes this month, compared with 2.7 million tonnes in June, Refinitiv Oil Research assessments showed.
India’s diesel consumption, which accounts for about 40% of the country’s refined fuel sales, fell 1.6% year on year to 6.20 million tonnes in June, but was up about 12% from May, government data showed on Friday.
Cash differentials for jet fuel were at 37 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a discount of 40 cents per barrel a day earlier.
The August crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is unchanged at $7.00 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 8.50 /bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.70 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premium for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) dipped on Monday, but stayed within close sight of a multi-week high touched last week, supported by firmer buying interest for physical cargoes.
Cash premium for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO was at $1.07 per tonne to Singapore quotes, down from $1.21 per tonne on Friday. The differential had hit $1.25 a tonne last Thursday, its strongest in more than two months.
The front-month VLSFO crack rose 20 cents to $12.42 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
The 380-cst high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) barge crack for January was at a discount of $11.96 a barrel to Brent, compared with minus $12.12 a barrel on Friday.
Asia’s cash premium for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) dropped to 45 cents per tonne to Singapore quotes on Monday.
The August crack for 180 cst FO is unchanged at -$6.65 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.20 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh trades today. We will lay on one tranche more of Jap-Nap Dubai should the crack climb above $ 3.50 per bbl.
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.