Crude Oil
Crude Oil prices managed to close higher on Thursday, a day after hitting 10-month lows, with Brent closing 40 cents higher at $45.22 /bbl and WTI ending 21 cents higher at $42.74 /bbl.
However, the market sentiment remains negative because the global crude glut has persisted despite OPEC-led output cuts. The bearish sentiment is accentuated by the recently released inventory data which saw stocks in Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub hit 64.2 million barrels in the week to June 16, the highest in a year.
Naphtha
The naphtha cracks have weakened as physical cargoes continue to be traded at softer premiums vis a vis previous deals. India’s Reliance Industries sold 55,000 tonnes of naphtha for July 22-24 loading from Sikka at premiums closeto $9 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. This is lower than an average premium of close to $9.60 a tonne it fetched for three 55,000-tonne cargoes lifting from Sikka in June. Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi was looking to sell 50,000 tonnes of naphtha in the spot market for second-half July loading
The July crack is lower at -$0.15 /bbl
Gasoline
Gasoline cracks strengthened on the back of bullish inventory data out of Singapore. Singapore’s onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for the fuel, dropped 8.26 percent or 943,000 barrels to more than an eight-month low of 10.47 million barrels in the week to June 21.
The July crack is higher at $ 10.20 /bbl
Distillates
Distillate cracks have softened slightly as inventories continue to rise. Singapore’s onshore middle distillates stocks edged up 1.1 percent or 136,000 barrels to a two-week high of nearly 12.5 million barrels in the week to June 21. The increase in Singapore’s stocks mirrored that in the U.S. where its distillate inventories which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.1 million barrels last week.
The July crack is slightly lower at $ 10.80 /bbl with the July regrade is unchanged at -$ 0.25/bbl
Fuel Oil
Whilst still positive, the Fuel Oil cracks are slightly lower as inventories rose in the East. Singapore’s onshore fuel oil inventories rose to a 7-week high of 3.48 million tonnes in the week to June 21, up 8 percent or 168,000 tonnes from the previous week. This came despite a 60 percent drop in Singapore net imports to a 6-week low of 0.52 million tonnes. However, this is unlikely to have a very bearish impact on cracks since the inventory build was a result of floating storage being discharged into onshore tanks. At least one VLCC storing fuel oil is known to have discharged her cargo over the past week, adding as much as 300,000 tonnes to onshore inventories
The The July crack is lower at $0.40 /bbl with the visco spread unchanged at -$1.05/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.