Crude Oil
Crude prices ended slightly higher on Tuesday with Brent rising 14 cents to settle at $52.29 per barrel and WTI rising 17 cents to settle at $49.97 per barrel.
The Brent-WTI differential continues to narrow settling at its now month low of $2.32 per barrel. One of the key reasons for this is that the U.S. demand for transport fuels tends to rise significantly as families go on vacation during the summer months, with the so-called summer driving season officially kicking off on the Memorial Day holiday at the start of this week. With no such driving taking place in Asia or Europe at this stage, international benchmark Brent crude futures prices don’t get pushed up as strongly as WTI.
Naphtha
The naphtha cracks are supported by some buying interest seen in the market for June & July naphtha cargoes.
The June Japan Naphtha- Dubai crack is unchanged at -$1.15 /bbl.
Gasoline
Gasoline cracks continue to strengthen on the back of strong physical demand and considerable reduction in inventories. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) are in the market seeking Gasoline cargoes for July delivery .
Gasoline stocks held independently in Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fell by nearly 13.5 percent to 905,000 tonnes in the week to May 26, lowest since March 23.
The June 92Ron-Dubai crack is now stronger at $11.15 /bbl
Distillates
Distillate cracks are stronger encouraged by robust demand for cargoes and a inventory drawdowns. Indonesia’s Pertamina, China Aviation Oil (CAO) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) were amongst the buyers looking for Gasoil and/or ATF cargoes.
Gasoil stocks held independently in Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub at about 2.8 million tonnes were at their lowest since Jan. 5 due largely to demand in inland markets and the Mediterranean
The June Gasoil-Dubai crack is up at $11.10 /bbl with the regrade at $0.45 /bbl
Fuel Oil
Petro China continued to aggressively offer cargoes with three deals having been concluded in the window yesterday. The buyers were once again Hin Leong with two cargoes and Coastal with one cargo.
A total of 1.86 million tonnes of fuel oil have traded in the window since the start of May, against 3.821 million tonnes in April
The June 180 cst crack is unchanged at -$ 3.10 / bbl. The visco spread also continues to be around $ 1.20 /bbl.
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.