Crude Oil
While Oil ended up little changed for the date, the intra day movement was quite dramatic as headlines drove the markets first one way and then the other.
Brent scaled up to rise to just 4 cents short of $50/bbl as a Nigerian official said that everybody would be on board. However, after subsequent reports that OPEC could defer its decision, markets tanked to head into negative territory. Essentially the challenge still remains to get Iran and Iraq on board. The front month contango for WTI futures has risencto 95 cents, its highest since April.
Brent settled at $ 49.12 / bbl up by 22 c/bbl. WTI settled at $ 48.03 / bbl
Naphtha
The Naphtha market continued to ease as the impact of rising prices on end user is being gauged. Traders see the reopening of condensate splitters as well as refineries returning from turnaround easing the supply situation. Traders are also looking at the expanded capacity of India’s BPCL (coming onstream in early 2017) easing out any possible tightness in supply.
Gasoline
The Gasoline continues to be well supported as the December crack is showing a value just above $11 / bbl.
Middle Distillates
Buying continued in gasoil with Hin Leong joining Winson Oil in purchasing the product in the window.
The gasoil crack for December is marginally highere at around $ 12.00 /bbl.
Jet crack values also picked up with the regrade for December and January showing a value of $ 1.40/bbl.
Fuel Oil
The 180 cst fuel oil crack for December is slightly firmer today showing a value of -$ 1.17 /bbl.
Refiners hope that this strength will continue given the demand seen arising out of a strong winter season.
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.