Crude Oil
We resume our coverage of the oil markets after a two week hiatus due to some exigencies.
Oil Prices tumbled on Friday after some extremely weak economic data out of the US rekindled fears about rebound of growth.
Brent futures settled $1.32 lower at $55.10 a barrel, while WTI futures fell $1.21 to settle at $52.36/bbl.
For the week Brent lost 1.6%. WTI, however, recorded a gain of 0.5%
Exacerbating the shock due to the economic data was the inexplicable strengthening of the US dollar.
The production of Libya’s Waha Oil Company will be reduced by up to 200 KB/D because of maintenance work on the main crude oil pipeline that will start on 17 Jan’21 and is expected to continue for 2 weeks, Libya’s NOC said on Saturday.
US shale producers are taking advantage of the oil market’s rally to levels not seen in nearly a year by locking in prices for future sales, sources familiar with the matter said,
China, one of the few countries in the world that was expected to record an economic expansion last year, reported GDP growth of 2.3% for 2020. Chinese GDP had rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter, showing a 6.5% jump on the same period of 2019, according to government data. However, consumer spending contracted by 3.9% for the year.
US energy firms added 12 oil rigs in the week to 15 Jan’21 to total 275 (-386 YoY), as crude prices recover to their highest in nearly a year.
Money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions by 21,841 contracts to total 349,965 in the week to 12 Jan’21, the US CFTC said on Friday.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 2,029,932 (+9,151 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases dropped by around 140,000 DoD to 25.27 million. (Click here for details).
Naphtha
No fresh news on markets today. Naphtha continues to strengthen however.
The February crack is higher at $2.75 /bbl.
Gasoline
No fresh news
The February crack is marginally higher at $4.70 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
No fresh news
The February crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is marginally higher at $5.60 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.55 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.00 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
No fresh news.
The January crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$3.25 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.50 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
We recommend hedging the Feb Jap Nap – Dubai crack at current levels of $ 2.75/barrel
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.