Crude Oil
Oil prices rose slightly on Friday as tensions between the United States and China limited gains.
Brent crude settled 3 cents higher at $43.34 per barrel, while WTI rose 22 cents to $41.29 a barrel.
U.S. business activity increased to a six-month high in July. U.S. companies, however, reported a drop in new orders as new COVID-19 cases spiked.
India’s oil imports fell 28.5% YoY in Jun’20 to 3.2 MB/D, the lowest since Oct’11, as refiners curbed purchases due to maintenance turnarounds and weaker fuel demand, data from industry sources showed.
US energy firms added 1 oil rig in the week to 24 Jul’20 to total 181 (-595 YoY), according to Baker Hughes. This was the first addition since Mar’20 as a recovery in crude prices tempt some producers back to the well pad.
Money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions by 5,430 contracts to total 375,193 in the week to 21 Jul’20, the US CFTC said on Friday.
covid 19
At a global level, the death toll from the COVID-19 virus rose to 651,877 (+4,303 DoD) yesterday, with the total number of confirmed infections at 16,410,479 (+221,260 DoD). (Click here for details).
The WHO reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Friday, with the total rising by 284,196 in 24 hours. Deaths rose by 9,753, the biggest one-day increase since a record high of 9,797 deaths on 30 Apr’20.
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack rose for the second straight day to reach nearly a two-week high of $81.05 a tonne on Friday on strong demand this week.
The August crack is higher at $ 1.25 /bbl
Gasoline
No fresh news on the gasoline markets.
The August crack is higher at $3.05 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Asia’s cash premiums for 10 ppm gasoil dropped on Friday to their lowest level in more than 1-1/2 months, hurt by weaker buying interest in the physical market.
Cash premiums for 10 ppm gasoil fell to 46 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, the lowest since June 9. They were at a premium of 53 cents a barrel on Thursday.
The August crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is lower at $6.05 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 6.85 / bbl. The regrade is at -$ 4.00 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Asia’s front-month crack for 0.5% VLSFO against Dubai crude slipped on Friday, but posted a second consecutive weekly gain buoyed by hopes of tightening supplies.
The front-month VLSFO crack dropped to $8.24 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trade, down from $9.19 per barrel on Thursday. The VLSFO cracks, however, have gained 5.8% this week.
Cash premium for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO were at 60 cents a tonne to Singapore quotes, compared with 57 cents per tonne a day earlier.
Asia’s cash premium for 380-cst HSFO fell to $2.12 per tonne to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with $2.46 per tonne in the previous session.
The August crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $3.25 /bbl with the visco spread at $0.70 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
We will hedge the September Jap-Naphtha crack at +$0.45 /bbl 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.
Click Here to see how all our recommendations have fared
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.