Oil prices edged higher on Monday, rebounding from early losses, as investors weighed Russia’s plans to cut crude production and short-term demand concerns ahead of U.S. inflation data this week.
London-traded Brent crude for March delivery sfinished the regular session up 22 cents, or 0.3%, at $86.61, extending last week’s run-up of 8%. Brent’s session low was $85.11, versus a high of $86.93.
New York-traded WTI crude for March deliverysettled up 42 cents, or 0.5%, at $80.14 per barrel, extending last week’s rally of almost 9%. The U.S. crude benchmark earlier fell to a session low of $78.45. WTI’s intraday peak of $80.61 was the highest in two weeks.
Oil came under pressure earlier on Monday as investors across markets braced for a worrisome Consumer Price Index, or CPI, report due on Tuesday. But oil bulls still fought to keep the market in the green on Monday by bidding to buy crude at the day’s lows.
On an annual basis, the CPI is forecast to have grown by just 6.2% year-on-year in January from a comparative 6.5% in December. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is also expected to have slowed for the year with an expansion of 5.5% from a previous 5.7%.
Asia’s Naphtha crack rose by over 15% to $88.88 per tonne, up from $77.07 per tonne from the previous session.
The March crack is lower at -$5.45 per barrel
Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin rose on Monday amid robust fuel demand in China and the United States. The crack climbed to $13.70 a barrel, compared with $13.44 a barrel on Friday.
China’s gasoline imports are on course to hit the highest level since June 2021, Kpler data showed, amid a recovery in mobility after the relaxation of COVID curbs.
The March crack is higher at $14.65 per barrel.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s 10-ppm sulphur gasoil margins fell for a fourth consecutive session on Monday as ample regional supplies continued to weigh on the market.
Refining margins for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil were at $22.61 per barrel at the Asia close.
Gasoil cash differentials went up to $1.43 per barrel.
Jet fuel refining margins also extended declines, sliding to $21.61 per barrel.
The March crack for 10 ppm Gasoil is higher at $24.45 /bbl. The 10 ppm regrade is at -$0.95 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s spot market was little changed on Monday, though at risk of downward pressure as bunkering demand has weakened in the month so far, following a month of robust uptake, trade sources said.
Meanwhile, the 380-cst HSFO cash differential rose slightly to a premium of $3 a tonne on Monday.
The March crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $18.45 /bbl with the visco spread at $2.00 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh trades for today. However, we may hedge more gasoline should gasoline Q2 crack rise above $14.00 / 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.