Crude Oil
Oil prices slumped on news of a new SARS like virus having reached the United States. Brent crude futures fell 20 cents to settle at $64.59 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell 20 cents to settle at $58.38 a barrel.
Supply disruptions that have cut Libya’s crude production to a trickle have helped support prices for now.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday trimmed back its 2020 global economic growth forecasts by a tenth of a percentage point to 3.3% because of sharper than expected slowdowns in India and other emerging markets.
U.S. oil and natural gas output in major shale formations is expected to rise by the smallest amount in about a year in February, but will still set a new high, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, as producers pull back on new drilling.
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack fell further to a 1-1/2-week low of $85.63 a tonne on Tuesday, as high volumes of cargoes expected to arrive this month from the West are likely to offset some of the supply loss from refinery maintenance in the Middle East.
Japan’s top refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp has shut a 120 kbpd crude unit at its Mariful refinery on Monday for a scheduled maintenance which is expected to last until late March.
The February crack is lower at – $ 3.30 / bbl.
Gasoline
Thai Oil has inked its sales tender for catalytic cracker gasoline scheduled for April-December loading from Sriracha at premiums of about $1.50 a barrel to Singapore 95-octane grade quotes. The refiner had offered 2-4 cargoes of the fuel for the entire term, with each cargo at 180 KB.
The February crack is steady at 5.75/ bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Cash premiums for 10 ppm gasoil were at 18 cents per barrel over Singapore quotes on Tuesday, compared with 15 cents per barrel on Monday.
Winson Oil was seen selling strongly in the market yesterday as it sold 4 lots of 150 KB each loading in the first two decades of February at a premium of 15-20 cents a barrel to February Singapore quotes. Trafigura bought 3 of these 4 cargoes.
Cash premiums for jet fuel jumped to 42 cents per barrel over Singapore quotes on Tuesday, the highest since May 2018. They were at 28 cents per barrel a day earlier. China’s week-long Lunar New Year holidays typically boost aviation passenger demand in the region.
The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival and celebrated elsewhere across Asia including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore starts later this week.
The front-month time spread for jet fuel traded at a premium of 30 cents a barrel on Tuesday, 5 cents lower from the previous session.
The February crack for 500 ppm Gasoil has once again crashed to $ 11.50 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 12.00 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 0.45 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Trade liquidity in Asia’s physical and paper fuel oil market remained thin on Tuesday as industry participants looked for signs of supply fundamentals amid narrowing stockpiles of finished grade 0.5% VLSFO bunkers in and around the Singapore hub.
Despite the muted trade, however, falling crude prices helped lift crack values for VLSFO higher on Tuesday. The front-month VLSFO crack rose to $25.47 per barrel above Brent crude, compared with $24.85 a barrel in the previous session.
The Trump administration in December renewed a waiver until Feb. 4, 2020, for companies to wind down transactions with Cosco Dalian on which it had imposed sanctions in September for allegedly transporting Iranian oil.
The February 180 cst crack is lower at -$ 13.20 / bbl with the visco spread at $ 1.35 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
No fresh action for 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 refiner.
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.