Crude Oil
Oil prices edged lower in post-settlement trade on Tuesday after a bigger build than expected in U.S. crude stockpiles.
Brents future fell 7 cents to settle at $43.75 a barrel. WTI crude futures rose 9 cents to $41.43 per barrel.
During the session, prices were narrowly mixed as the demand fears offset hopes for a vaccine and talk of tighter OPEC+ supply policies. Saudi Arabia called on fellow OPEC+ members on Tuesday to be flexible in responding to oil market needs as it builds the case for a tighter oil production policy in 2021 to tackle weaker demand amid a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 1,342,942 (+10,502 DoD) yesterday. This is the highest number of daily deaths recorded. The total number of active cases rose by around 120,000 over the weekend to 15.64 million. (Click here for details).
India and China may start producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, the RIA news agency cited the Russian President as saying on Tuesday.
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack eased to $53.98 a tonne and this was down by some 32% compared with a month earlier as the extended shutdown of crackers in South Korea continued to weigh.
The December crack is higher at – $0.15 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline hit a 3-1/3 month low of $1.13 a barrel.
China’s gasoline output in October in the meantime was down 4.7% year-on-year. This was despite China’s October crude oil throughput rising 2.6% year-on-year to 59.82 million tonnes.
The December crack is higher at $2.05 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Asia’s benchmark 10 ppm diesel crack extended losses to hit a one-week low of $4.48 a barrel on Tuesday, weighed down by firm raw material crude prices and renewed concerns over demand recovery in India.
China’s diesel output in October was down 10.9% year-on-year at 13.3 million tonnes. China’s kerosene output last month dived 20.6% year-on-year to 3.75 million tonnes.
Jet fuel/kerosene remained the most affected of all oil products but optimism over a COVID-19 vaccine has given the aviation industry newfound hope.
Airlines’ hedging of their fuel costs has almost completely ground to a halt as they grapple with the high level of uncertainty surrounding future demand caused by the pandemic and, in some cases, a lack of credit availability to fund the strategy.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $4.00 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 4.80 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Cash premiums for Asian cargoes of HSFO extended gains on Tuesday. Premiums for 180-cst HSFO climbed to a near three-week high of $6.13 per tonne to Singapore quotes while 380-cst HSFO premiums hit a more than nine-month high of $7.25 per tonne.
Cash premiums for cargoes of 0.5% very VLSFO also rose to a near nine-month high amid shrinking finished grade supplies of the fuel.
The December crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$0.15 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.05 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh activity 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.