Asia’s diesel spot activity on the trading window turned upbeat, while market structures and cash premiums gained to three-year highs ahead of the mid-month price rollover as front-month supply-demand fundamentals held firm.
Some buying interest emerged from a key regional importer in Vietnam for December cargoes, providing some supply-demand support for the front month.
Meanwhile, spot refiner sales for December cargoes continued to be underway as sellers still sought premiums amid the current bullish run-up to the winter heating season in the West.
Talks for northeast Asia-origin cargoes ranged from premiums of 10-20 cents per barrel to around $1.1 a barrel, depending on the laycan of the cargo.
Some refinery maintenance programmes, planned or unplanned, will likely continue into end-November and December, multiple trade sources say.
Refining margins regained some ground and rose slightly to around $27 a barrel, while the east-west price spread narrowed to its smallest discount in around a week.
Cash differentials held firm and gained to slightly more than $3 a barrel, reflecting the higher deal done levels on the trading window.
Regrade continued to hover at discounts of 50-60 cents a barrel, little changed from the previous trading session.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– Three gasoil deals, no jet fuel deals
NEWS
– Oil prices dipped in Asian trade on Tuesday as oversupply concerns outweighed uncertainty over the impact of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil and optimism over progress toward reopening the U.S. government.
– Chinese provincial government-backed refiner Yanchang Petroleum is avoiding Russian oil in its latest crude oil tender for deliveries between December and mid-February，two traders with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
– Kuwait Petroleum Corp has offered heavy crude for loading in December via a spot tender, according to trade sources and the tender document, as it sells excess oil that the Al-Zour refinery is unable to process.
– Aster Chemicals and Energy has tied up with technology firm Aether Fuels to build a renewable fuels facility in Singapore’s Bukom Island, which will start operations in 2028, the companies said on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters
