Crude prices settled down 4%, resuming their slide after Wednesday’s 6% leap recouped almost all what the market lost in the previous session.
Brent crude settled down $2.61, or 4.1%, at $61.80. That was just a penny above where it closed after Tuesday’s rout. WTI settled down $2.62, or 4.3%, at $58.01. That was just 25 cents above where it ended Tuesday, when it fell 6%
The Suez Canal is jammed after powerful winds forced Ever Given — a Panama-flagged, Taiwanese-operated and Japanese-owned ship — aground on one of its banks. The blockade has disrupted one of the world’s most important maritime arteries, through which roughly 10% of global shipping traffic passes As of Thursday morning, hundreds of ships were stuck at each end of the 120-mile Suez Canal which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. A salvage ship was, meanwhile, working to free the Ever Given tanker, which diagonally is said to be as long as the height of New York’s Empire State Building.
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 2,766,647 (+10,331 DoD) yesterday. The total number of active cases rose by around 190,000 DoD to 21.57 million. (Click here for details)
India reported its highest one-day tally of new infections and deaths and said a new “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus had been found.
Germany’s new confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped by 22,657 to 2.713 mil on Thursday, the biggest increase since 9th Jan as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government struggles to agree measures to contain the third wave of the pandemic.
Asia’s naphtha crack fell to $100.15 per tonne, from $102.93 per tonne in the previous session.
The April crack is higher at $1.20 /bbl
Asia’s gasoline crack climbed on Thursday, buoyed by shrinking Singapore inventories and expectations that seasonal maintenance at regional refineries would keep supplies tight in the coming months. The gasoline crack in Singapore rose to a near two-week high of $5.98 per barrel on Thursday, compared with $5.80 per barrel a day earlier.
Singapore’s light distillate inventories fell 6% to an eight-week low of 14.647 million barrels in the week to March 24, according to Enterprise Singapore data.
The April crack is lower at $7.65 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s cash discounts for 10 ppm gasoil widened on Thursday due to sluggish buying interest for physical cargoes, while middle distillate inventories in Singapore dropped to a near eight-month low.
Cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil were at 27 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a 25-cent discount a day earlier.
Chinese diesel exports would remain above 2 million tonnes in March and at around 1.8–1.9 million tonnes in April, consultancy Energy Aspects said in a note, adding those barrels would keep the far-eastern diesel market well supplied over the upcoming spring turnarounds in Asia.
Cash differentials for jet kero were unchanged at a discount of 52 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday.
Singapore’s middle distillate inventories dropped 0.9% to 13.8 million barrels in the week ended March 24, according to Enterprise Singapore data.
The April crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is lower at $4.05 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 4.85 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 1.55 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asian cash premiums for cargoes of 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) fell on Thursday to their lowest since late-December, amid limited buying interest and absent trade in the Singapore window. The cash premium fell to 10 cents a tonne, its lowest since Dec. 28.
Onshore fuel oil stocks, which fell by 538,000 barrels, or about 85,000 tonnes, to 22.311 million barrels, or 3.514 million tonnes, Enterprise Singapore data showed. This is 10% lower than the previous year’s level.
The April crack for 180 cst FO is lower at -$3.40 /bbl with the visco spread at $1.00 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh action 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.