Crude Oil
Oil ended mixed on Thursday. Brent crude futures fell 14 cents to settle at $63.92 a barrel.. WTI rose 13 cents to settle at $58.24 a barrel.
Many U.S. traders were away for the Thanksgiving holiday.
China warned the United States that it would take “firm countermeasures” in response to U.S. legislation backing anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. Investors are concerned that the move might delay further a preliminary agreement between the United States and China to put an end to their trade war that has slowed global economic growth, and consequently consumption of oil.
Easing supply concerns, Libya’s National Oil Corp said facilities at the 70,000-bpd El Feel oilfield had suffered only minor damage in fighting over the past two days, allowing production to restart.
Naphtha
Asia’s naphtha crack eased 1.3% to a two-session low of $108.28 a tonne, but this is still more than seven times higher than values from three months ago at $13.85.
Naphtha has been holding strong since Saudi Arabia’s oilfields were hit by drone attacks in September as this was followed by events ranging from refinery maintenance to strong demand and talk of refinery run cuts. Several buyers were in the market snapping up January cargoes, including South Korea’s Hanwha Total, China’s CNOOC and Taiwan’s Formosa and CPC.
The December crack is higher at – $ 1.00 / bbl.
Gasoline
No fresh news on the gasoline markets today. Singapore light distillate stocks rose by 397 Kb to 11.24 million barrels.
The December crack is lower at $ 8.80 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Distillates
Asian refining margins for 10ppm gasoil dropped on Thursday, weighed down by ample regional supplies, while the front-month spread for the industrial fuel grade widened its backwardation.
Cracks for 10 ppm gasoil slipped to $14.68 a barrel over Dubai crude, down from $14.80 a barrel on Wednesday. Cracks have come under pressure over the last one month amid weaker domestic demand in India and China. At least six LR2 tankers have been booked in recent days, each carrying a 90 KT diesel cargo, to load in the Mideast Gulf, India and Asia Pacific in the first half of December with delivery options to Europe, shipping reports showed.
The December/January time spread for 10ppm gasoil widened for a third consecutive session to a three-week high of 29 cents a barrel on Thursday, compared with 20 cents a day earlier.
Cash differentials for jet fuel narrowed their discounts to 51 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday, compared with a discount of 61 cents a barrel on Wednesday.
Singapore middle distillate stocks dropped by 718 Kb to 10.91 million barrels.
The December crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is higher at $ 13.60 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack at $ 14.55 / bbl. The regrade is at $ 0.50 /bbl
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Fuel Oil
Asia’s front-month 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) crack against Brent crude climbed to its highest level for November, as demand for the new marine fuel continues to build ahead of the global sulphur cap at the start of 2020.
The December VLSFO crack climbed for a fourth straight session to $19.35 a barrel above Brent crude, up from $18.51 a barrel on Wednesday and its highest since Nov. 1.
By contrast, in continued signs of fading demand for HSFO bunkers, the front-month 380-cst HSFO barge crack to Brent fell to a fresh record low of $32.62 a barrel on Thursday, surpassing the previous low of $31.99 a barrel on Nov. 14, the data showed.
Singapore residual fuel oil stocks climbed to a four-week high of 21.78 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 27., official data showed on Thursday.
The December 180 cst crack is lower at -$ 24.90 / bbl with the visco spread at $ 1.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
Hedge Recommendations
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 refiner.
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.