Singapore -- Asia's cash
differentials for 10 ppm gasoil
rose to their strongest level in
nearly five months on Wednesday,
while the front-month spread for
the industrial fuel narrowed to its
slimmest contango since July-end.
Cash discounts for gasoil with
10 ppm sulphur content narrowed by
2 cents to 3 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, a level not
seen since Aug. 7, the last time when the differentials
were in the positive territory.
The Jan/Feb time spread for 10 ppm gasoil in Singapore traded
at a discount of 3 cents per barrel on Wednesday, compared
with minus 8 cents per barrel a day earlier.
In a contango market, prompt prices are lower than those for
future delivery, but a narrowing contango indicates the
market may flip back into backwardation - the opposite of
contango that is usually seen as a sign that prices are
likely to head higher in future months.
But a mutant variant of the coronavirus, which has hit
Britain and fueled concerns about global oil demand recovery,
was dampening sentiments in the market ahead of the year-end
holidays, market watchers said.
Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil
climbed 28 cents to $6.34 a barrel over Dubai crude during
Asian trading hours.
INVENTORIES
- Middle-distillate inventories in the Fujairah Oil Industry
Zone dropped 9.5% to 5.5 million barrels in the week ended
Dec. 21, data via S&P Global Platts showed.
- U.S. distillate stockpiles rose by 1 million barrels in
the week to Dec. 18, compared with expectations for a
decrease of 904,000 barrels, data from industry group the
American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday.
INDIA FUEL EXPORTS
- India's diesel exports fell 5.5% to 2.24 million tonnes
in November from 2.37 million tonnes in October, government
data showed on Tuesday. The November exports were about
31.5% lower year on year, the data showed.
- The country exported about 270,000 tonnes of jet fuel in
November, compared with 180,000 tonnes in October and
710,000 tonnes in November 2019, data showed.
