Oil prices fell as much as 2% on Wednesday on talk of a nuclear deal by May for Iran that would take U.S. sanctions off the Islamic Republic’s crude exports, potentially adding another two million barrels per day or more to the market.
Brent crude settled down $1.25, or 1.9%, at $65.32. Brent fell to as low as $64.96 earlier.
WTI crude settled down $1.32, or 2.1%, at $61.35 per barrel. It fell to a session low of $60.87 earlier.
Prices had earlier been depressed by a bearish DOE report.
Nigerian light sweet crudes have found an unlikely buyer in ADNOC’s 837 KB/D Ruwais refinery in the UAE, trading and shipping sources said this week.
doe DATA
The DOE data was bearish with builds being reported both in crude and in gasoline. While the numbers themselves were small, it was the directional change which made the market wary.
The material balance statement seems to suggest draws in both crude and gasoline with a build in distillates.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 3,071,039 (+14,089 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 130,000 DoD to 18.46 million. (Click here for details).
Asia’s naphtha fell for a third straight session on Wednesday as petrochemical producers are switching to more affordable liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as feedstock, while concerns about India’s fuel demand weighed on the gasoline market.
The crack weakened by 0.5% to $ 75.33 /MT from $75.70 the previous day.
The May crack is higher at -$ 0.45 /bbl
Asia’s gasoline crack remained unchanaged at $6.86 a barrel on Wednesday.
Light distillates stocks fell by 529,000 barrels to 5.482 million barrels at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone for the week ended April 19, according to industry information service S&P Global Platts.
The May crack is lower at $8.80 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil sank further to a discount of 43 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, from a discount of 33 cents per barrel on Tuesday.
Jet fuel cash differentials were at minus 11 cents a barrel on Tuesday, up from minus 12 cents on the previous day.
Middle-distillate inventories in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone rose 4.7% to 3.2 million barrels in the week ended April 19, data via S&P Global Platts showed.
The May crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $5.35 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.55 /bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.40 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) market eased on Wednesday as ample supplies and moderate demand dampened sentiment, trade sources said.
VLSFO cash premiums, front-month time spread and refining margin all slipped to about two-week lows, Refinitiv data in Eikon showed.
Fujairah Oil Industry Zone inventories for heavy distillates and residues jumped by 2.95 million barrels, or about 465,000 tonnes, to 12.95 million barrels, or 2.04 million tonnes, data via S&P Global Platts showed.
The May crack for 180 cst FO is higher at -$3.10 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.80 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh action today.
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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.