Crude Oil
Oil prices were slightly lower as uncertainty continues to dog the markets.
Brents future dipped 14 cents to settle at $44.20 a barrel. WTI crude futures eased 8 cents to $41.74 per barrel.
On the positive side, the Brent price contango was at its shallowest in more than four months. This suggests concerns about a glut are easing. But concerns about the demand outlook persist.
Japan’s manufacturing decline sped up in Nov’20, with the au Jibun Bank Flash Manufacturing PMI falling to 48.3 from 48.7 in Oct’20 as output and orders sagged.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 1,364,868 (+10,758 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 290,000 DoD to 16.14 million. (Click here for details).
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack eased to a two-session low of $54.15 a tonne on Thursday as supplies stayed high.
Naphtha spot prices have mostly been negative since second-half of October.
The December crack is lowr at – $0.45 /bbl.
Gasoline
Asia’s gasoline crack was also weak at $1.12 a barrel, lowest since Sept. 1.
Singapore’s onshore light distillates inventories fell 918 kb (6.87%) to a three-week low of 12.4 million barrels in the week to Nov. 18, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. But this was at least 14% higher than a year ago when the level was at 10.8 million barrels.
The December crack is steady at $1.85 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash discounts for jet fuel were at 42 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a 48-cent discount a day earlier.
The Dec/Jan time spread for the aviation fuel in Singapore traded at a discount of 32 cents per barrel on Thursday, compared with minus 34 cents per barrel on Wednesday.
Singapore’s middle distillate inventories dropped 3% to 16.1 million barrels in the week to Nov. 18, according to Enterprise Singapore data. Weekly Singapore middle distillate inventories have averaged about 13.7 million barrels so far in 2020. This week’s stocks were 38.4% higher year-on-year.
China’s middle distillate output in October fell 13.2% YoY to 17.04 MMT, with the decline led primarily by a plunge in jet fuel/kerosene production, National Bureau of Statistics data released on 19 Nov’20 showed.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $4.40 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 5.20 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.10 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Asia’s front-month crack for 0.5% VLSFO slipped on Thursday, but hovered close to a near seven-month high touched in the previous session, buoyed by steady bunkering demand. The front-month VLSFO crack eased to $10.44 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, down from $10.97 per barrel a day earlier.
Cash premium for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO was at $2.23 a tonne to Singapore quotes on Thursday, compared with $2.10 per tonne on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Asia’s cash premium for 180-cst HSFO rose by 8 cents to $5.60 per tonne to Singapore quotes on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks in Singapore fell 1.044 million barrels (4.5%) from the previous week to 22 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 18, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. Weekly fuel oil inventories have averaged 23.95 million barrels so far this year, having averaged about 21 million barrels a week last year. Onshore fuel oil inventories were 5.6% higher, compared with year-ago levels. .
The December crack for 180 cst FO is lower at -$0.20 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.80 /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.