Crude Oil
Crude markets continued their yoyo as Brent fell by $ 0.89 / bbl to settle at $ 54.46/bbl while WTI lost $ 0.81 / bbl to settle at $ 52.49 / bbl. The WTI number is for the changed first nearby contract.
The immediate reason for the decline was that the DOE reported a build of 2.3 Million barrels of crude stocks against an expectation of a draw of 2.5 million barrels. API had earlier reported a draw of 4.2 million barrels in crude, therefore this number was totally unexpected.
In addition, there were reports that the US plans to go ahead with its plan to sell some SPR stocks which could negate any effect the production cuts may have.
Further, Libya said it expects its output to reach 900 kb/d in early 2017, up by nearly 300 kb/d from its October production.
On the supportive side, Gasoline drew 2.3 million barrels while distillates drew 1.4 million barrels. The weather in the US does not seem to be particularly cold which may augur well for gasoline, but not so well for gasoil.
Naphtha
The Naphtha markets gained in strength tracking the strength in gasoline yesterday. The January crack was at a value of -$0.2 /bbl
Gasoline
The gasoline crack for January continued to strengthen with a the draws in the US. The January crack rose to around $12.8 / bbl. This is notwithstanding extremely strong exports from China of 940 KT in the month of November as compared to 800 KT in October.
Middle Distillates
The gasoil crack for January dropped to around $ 11.0 /bbl. Here, Chinese exports of nearly 1.5 million tons had a major impact notwithstanding the draw in the US. Gasoil stocks are at a 5 year high in Singapore currently. With no signs of a severe winter in the US, strong demand for the product is not anticipated.
The regrade for January gained a bit to a value of $ 1.30 /bbl.
Fuel Oil
Fuel Oil prices strengthened marginally inspite of aggressive selling by BP in the Platts window yesterday
The crack levels plunged from yesterday with the January crack being valued at -$1.20 and February at -$ 2.15 /bbl.
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.