Oil prices settled up more than 4% on Monday, extending last week’s gain, as potential OPEC+ output cuts and conflict in Libya helped to offset a strong U.S. dollar and a dire outlook for U.S. growth.
Brent finished the session up $4.10, or 4.1%. Last week, Brent jumped 4.4%, versus the previous week’s slide of 1.5%,
WTI closed up $3.95, or 4.2%, at $97.01 per barrel. WTI rose 2.5% for all of last week, after the previous week’s decline of 1.4%.
OPEC+ production cuts aside, sentiment in oil was also boosted by renewed conflict in Libya, and rising demand amid soaring natural gas prices in Europe that helped offset a dire outlook for growth in the United States.
In Europe, higher natural gas prices in Europe were spurring power generators and industrial users to switch to diesel and fuel oil, further supporting crude prices.
Asia’s naphtha crack plunged to the lowest since June 16 at a discount of $86.63 a tonne from a discount of $78.63 a tonne on Friday.
The September crack is lower at -$ 23.25 per barrel
Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin extended decline on Monday amid persistent slow demand for the fuel and a jump in crude oil benchmarks.
The crack plunged to $5.47 a barrel, the lowest since Aug. 5, from $8.55 a barrel on Friday. Gasoline margin shed more than 38% last week on weak consumption in China and inventory build ups at key trading hubs.
The September crack is lower at $6.55 per barrel.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Gasoline stocks by region.
Asia’s refining margins for 10 ppm grade gasoil fell on Monday, as stronger oil prices and continued fears of a global economic slowdown weighed on sentiment.
Cash differentials for 10 ppm gasoil stood stood at a premium of $1.96 a barrel to Singapore quotes, up from $1.82 in the previous session.
Refining margins or cracks for 10 ppm gasoil fell to $52.13 a barrel over Dubai crude in Asian trading hours, compared with $54.21 on Friday.
Cash differentials for jet spiked to a premium of $2.25 a barrel to Singapore quotes, up from a premium of $1.86 a barrel in the previous session.
Refining margins for jet fuel fell to $45.88 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with $47.68 on Friday.
The September crack for 500 ppm Gasoil is lower at $44.20 /bbl with the 10 ppm crack $48.10 /bbl. The 10 ppm regrade is at -$6.30 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Global Distillate stocks by region.
Asia’s fuel oil cash premiums declined slightly on Monday amid largely thin trade, while the market structure for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) also held relatively steady from the previous week.
The 0.5% VLSFO cash differential fell for eight consecutive sessions to a premium of $8.47 per tonne over Singapore quotes on Monday. There were no firm bids for the product, while a few offers continued to emerge as with previous days.
Front-month timespreads for 0.5% VLSFO also held stable from last week, with the September/October timespread at a backwardation of $13.75 per tonne at the Asia close.
The 380-cst HSFO cash differential in Asia dipped 5 cents to a premium of $4.06 per tonne on Monday, while its front-month timespread was stable at a backwardation of $6.25 per tonne.
The September crack for 180 cst FO is lower at – $22.55 /bbl with the visco spread at $3.75 /bbl.
Click Here for a graphical depiction of Fuel Oil stocks by region.
No fresh trades for today.
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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.