25 Jan 2017
oil-barrel

Crude Oil

The markets seem to be in suspense as to what direction it should be going.  Brent settled at $ 55.44/bbl, up 21 cents.  WTI gained 43 cents to settle at $ 53.18 / bbl

API data stated that Crude oil had built by 2.9 Million Barrels, Gasoline by 4.8 million barrels and Distillates by 2.0 Million Barrels.  It is the continued build in Gasoline that has to be a matter for significant concern for the bulls.

All eyes will be on the official data released by the DOE today.  Expectations in the market (in millions of barrels) are

Crude         + 2.8
Gasoline    + 0.5
Distillates  – 1.0
Naphtha 

Naphtha prices were firm and marginally higher as compared to yesterday. February is now valued at $2.20 / bbl and March at $ 1.25 / bbl.

We would reiterate our call to hedge the naphtha crack at these levels especially for March.

Gasoline 

High Oil prices appear to have hit Gasoline prices mildly.  PTT has been an active seller of both physical cargos as well as swaps in the window.  The February crack eased out considerably and is now at $ 12.75 cents /bbl.

Middle Distillates

Middle distillates were steady with cracks for gasoil marignally higher than yesterday.  February is valued at $11.60 /bbl. The Regrade however, slipped marginally to $ 0.40 /bbl.

Fuel Oil

 

For now, it appears as the bears have won as Fuel Oil cracks really plummetted in a scenario that has not changed for the last few weeks.  The February crack is valued at just under -$ 3.0 /bbl while the March crack is at -$ 3.4 /bblAbout 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.

Disclaimer : All the views are the author’s personal views. These do not constitute an advice to buy or sell any commodity

 

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