Crude Oil

On a day when the US was closed, crude drew strength from the ongoing recovery in the stock markets as well the possible tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures rose for the fourth day in a row to settle $ 1.16 higher at $ 65.67 /bbl, gaining 51 cents.  WTI, was up 82 cents at $62.50 /bbl though a settle was not recorded due to the holiday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel could act against Iran itself, not just its allies in the Middle East, after border incidents in Syria brought the Middle East foes closer to direct confrontation.

In the meanwhile, a more detailed analysis of the CFTC report of positions held shows that the reduction in net positions has come about more from the liquidation of long positions rather than the creation of fresh shorts indicating that fund managers were booking profits rather than changing their view to outright bearish.

Portfolio managers’ positioning remains very lopsided across the complex, with longs outnumbering shorts by a ratio of more than 10:1, down from almost 12:1 at the end of January, but still exceptionally high. (source John Kemp, analyst at Reuters).

Naphtha

Asia’s naphtha crack for first-half April at $72.87 a tonne on Monday reflected a 7 percent fall from the previous session as demand was limited due to the ongoing Lunar New Year festival in China and Taiwan.

The March crack has further eased to $ 0.05 /bbl  

Gasoline

The gasoline market was rather quiet yesterday.  Nevertheless, the March 92 Ron gasoline crack has climbed further t0 $ 11.70 /bbl

Distillates

Asia’s jet fuel cash premium was over a five-year high at more than $1.10 a barrel to Singapore benchmark prices on Monday as tight supplies persisted. Gasoil too seemed to be well supported

The March paper gasoil crack has increased to $ 14.15 /bbl. The 10 ppm crack is at $ 14.80 /bbl.  The March regrade has however receded to $ 1.20 /bbl today. 

Hedge Recommendations with current values in Red

March Regrade          $ 1.40     ($ 1.20)

Fuel Oil

Asia’s front-month high-sulphur fuel oil crack narrowed its discount to Brent crude on Monday, clawing back some losses from the previous week. The March 180-cst fuel oil crack to Brent crude was trading at about minus $6.65 a barrel by the end of Asia trading hours, compared with a one-week low of minus $7.02 in the previous session.  

The March 180 cst crack is lower at -$ 3.85 /bbl. The visco spread has further blown out to $ 1.05 / bbl.  

Hedge Recommendations with current values in Red

March          -$ 3.00     (-$ 3.85)
2Q2018        -$ 2.80     (-$ 3.70)
3Q2018        -$ 2.40     (-$ 3.30)
4Q2018        -$ 2.05     (-$ 2.75)
1Q 2019        -$ 2.35     (-$ 2.75)

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.

Disclaimer : All the views are the author’s personal views. These do not constitute an advice to buy or sell any commodity

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