Asia’s 10-ppm sulphur gasoil cash premiums hit a three-day high on the back of strong prompt buying interest, against a backdrop of wider Asia-Europe arbitrage.
Cash differentials for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil went up on prompt buying interest, closing the session at $1.80 a barrel.
Refining margins however snapped two days of gains and fell slightly to $37.46 a barrel, compared with $38.01 a barrel in the previous session.
Meantime, jet fuel refining margins surged to $37.36 a barrel as supply remained minimal with producers focusing on kerosene swing production in some regions amid the winter season.
Regrade narrowed to minus 10 cents a barrel, with the discount hitting a new low since November 2019
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– One gasoil deal, no jet fuel deal.
TENDERS
– Kuwait’s KPC offers Jan gasoil
INVENTORIES
– U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week while gasoline and distillate stocks rose, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday. Crude stocks fell by about 1.3 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 23, they said. Gasoline inventories rose by about 510,000 barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 390,000 barrels, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
– Singapore middle distillates stocks have hit a four-week high to 7.7 million barrels as of Dec. 28, according to data released on Thursday by Enterprise Singapore.
NEWS
– A major crude oil pipeline connecting a storage farm in east China’s Zhoushan of Zhejiang province to mega private refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC) , local state media reported. The 46.5-kilometer (28.89 miles) pipeline is designed to carry 20 million tonnes a year of crude oil and is expandable to 30 million tonnes, as reported by Zhejiang Daily.
– Oil prices dipped on Thursday as surging COVID-19 cases in China dimmed hopes of a recovery in fuel demand for the world’s largest crude oil importer.
