Crude Oil
Brent crude retraced below $ 50 /bbl on Friday as speculators took profit on long positions at the end of the week.
Brent crude settled settled 28 cents lower at $ 49.97 per barrel. WTI futures fell 21 to settle at $46.57 a barrel.
For the week, Brent was up 1.5% and WTI was up less than 1%. That was the sixth consecutive week of gains for the first time since June.
India’s fuel demand fell 5% YoY in Nov’20 to 17.83 MMT, data from the PPAC showed, with sales of gasoline up 5.2% YoY at 2.67 MMT.
Global oil demand will rise in 2021, but not enough to surpass 2019 levels as the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on transportation fuel demand, especially jet fuel, according S&P Global Platts Analytics.
US energy firms added 12 oil rigs in the week to 11 Dec’20 to total 258 (-409 YoY), the highest since May’20. Despite recent additions, the total rig count was on track for its biggest annual decline since 2015.
Hedge funds and other money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions by 28,692 contracts to total 274,556 in the week ended 8 Dec’20, according to weekly US government data issued on Friday.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 1,618,494 (+7,582 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 180,000 over the weekend to 20.16 million. (Click here for details).
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack eased 0.7% to a two-session low on Friday at $66.40 a tonne as high oil prices weighed. The value hit a 5-week high in the previous session due to strong demand.
Overall, naphtha fundamentals have improved due to demand and spot prices for light naphtha grades have returned to positive territory in South Korea.
The January crack is lower at – $0.00 /bbl.
Gasoline
Gasoline stocks in ARA fell 5% to 1.22 million tonnes amid exports to the United States and West Africa.
The January crack is higher at $3.50 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil rose on Friday, posting their seventh consecutive weekly gain, but the pace of demand recovery is expected to take a hit as several regional economies continue to battle COVID-19 infections.
Diesel exports from India this month are well on track to exceed November’s 2.2 million tonnes.
Cash discounts for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content were at 11 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with a 8-cent discount a day earlier.
Gasoil stocks held in ARA rose 5.4% to 2.6 million tonnes in the week to Dec. 10. The data showed ARA jet fuel inventories climbed 11.8% to 995 KT. Compared with a year earlier, ARA gasoil inventories gained 6.6%, while jet fuel stocks rose 47.2%.
The January crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $5.30 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.10 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.65 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
No fresh news on the Asia Fuel Oil markets.
The January crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$2.50 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.85 /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.