Oil prices rose for both Friday and the week, but gains were capped by the ability of bears in the market to offset some of the optimism brought by the bulls, despite fuel at U.S. pumps itself hitting record highs.
Brent crude futures settled up 87 cents, or 0.8%, to $112.91 a barrel. The global crude benchmark was up 1% on the week, hitting a seven-week high of $115.69 on Tuesday.
WTI crude futures settled $110.35 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.4% on the day. Friday’s July WTI settlement at $110.49, giving the U.S. crude benchmark a nominal loss on the week, despite it scaling an 8-week high of $115.56 on Tuesday.
Two days of impressive gains that took the U.S. crude’s West Texas Intermediate grade to an eight-week high and briefly above its U.K. rival Brent for the first time since 2020 were offset by two days of equally surprising setbacks, capping weekly gains for both crude benchmarks.
China’s crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia soared 38% in April from a year earlier, hitting the highest monthly volume since May 2020, according to Reuters’ calculations based on official Chinese customs data. Saudi shipments amounted to 8.93 million tonnes last month, equivalent to 2.17 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs. The hefty purchases, with trades completed mostly in February, compare with 1.61 million bpd in March and 1.57 million bpd a year earlier.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 6.30 Million (+905 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases fell by 170,000 DoD to 23.70 million. (Click here for details).
No fresh news on the naphtha markets.
The June crack is lower at -$ 6.50 per barrel
Asia’s gasoline crack hit yet another record high on Friday and posted a weekly gain of over 20% after South Korean refiner S-Oil suspended production of several processing units following a blast at its Onsan refinery.
The refining profit margin for gasoline climbed to $37.27 a barrel, up from $31.75 in the last session. Gasoline margins have rallied this week on the back of growing driving season consumption.
The June crack is higher at $31.30 per barrel.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil rose on Friday, posting their third consecutive weekly decline as tightness in regional supplies have eased with more barrels emerging from South Korea and India, while China’s demand remains weak amid ongoing COVID lockdowns.
Cash premiums for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content slipped to $4.75 a barrel to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with $5.14 per barrel a day earlier.
Refining margins, or cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil climbed to $34.94 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours. They were at $31.79 a barrel on Thursday.
Gasoil stocks, held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub, fell 2% to 1.6 million tonnes in the week ended May 19, according to Dutch consultancy Insights Global. ARA jet fuel inventories climbed 0.9% this week to 791,000 tonnes.
The June crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $32.70 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $33.70 /bbl. The regrade is at -$6.80 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s cash premiums for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) hit record highs on Friday amid persisting supply tightness from the West.
The cash premiums for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO were at $42.72 a tonne to Singapore quotes, the highest on record, according to Reuters data which goes back to late 2019.
High-sulphur fuel oil cash differentials rebounded slightly on Friday after hitting two-month lows the day before. Cash premiums for 380-cst HSFO rose to $4.88 per tonne to Singapore quotes, compared with $4.49 per tonne a day earlier.
Meanwhile, cash differentials for 180-cst HSFO were at a discount of $1.79 per tonne to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with a discount of $2.91 a tonne on Thursday.
Fuel oil stocks in the ARA refining and storage dipped 13,000 tonnes, or 1%, to 1.02 million tonnes in the week ended May. 19, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
The June crack for 180 cst FO is higher at – $3.80 /bbl with the visco spread at $4.60 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh trades 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.
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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.