Asia Distillates-Gasoil cracks, cash differentials drop on subdued demand

Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil dropped on Wednesday, weighed down by feeble demand and expectations for a rise in near-term supplies.

Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil fell to $5.27 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trade, down from a more than three-month high of $5.72 per barrel a day earlier.

Cracks for the benchmark gasoil grade in Singapore have climbed about 5% in the last two weeks, but a Singapore-based trader said they might come under pressure due to ample availability of supplies relative to current demand.

The Dec/Jan time spread for 10 ppm gasoil widened its contango structure by 2 cents on Wednesday to trade at a discount of 22 cents per barrel, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Cash discounts for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content GO10-SIN-DIF widened for a second consecutive session to 23 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Wednesday, compared with a 21-cent discount on Tuesday.

INVENTORIES
– Middle-distillate inventories in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone dropped 12.8% to 5.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 30, data via S&P Global Platts showed.

– The weekly stocks in Fujairah have averaged 4.1 million barrels so far in 2020, compared with the weekly average of 2.4 million barrels in 2019, Reuters calculations showed.

– U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 334,000 barrels in the week to Nov. 27, compared with expectations for a draw of 209,000 barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– No gasoil deals, no jet fuel trades

OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices were steady on Wednesday as the market awaits a pact from producers on output and Britain became the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for use, boosting hopes for a future recovery in oil demand.

ASSESSMENTS
    
 MID-DISTILLATES                                                                            
 CASH ($/T)              ASIA CLOSE       Change   % Change   Prev Close   RIC
 Spot Gas Oil 0.5%                 50.50    -0.94      -1.83        51.44  GO-SIN
 GO 0.5 Diff                       -1.32    -0.01       0.76        -1.31  GO-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.25%                50.80    -0.94      -1.82        51.74  GO25-SIN
 GO 0.25 Diff                      -1.02    -0.01       0.99        -1.01  GO25-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.05%                50.95    -0.94      -1.81        51.89  GO005-SIN
 GO 0.05 Diff                      -0.87    -0.01       1.16        -0.86  GO005-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.001%               51.59    -0.95      -1.81        52.54  GO10-SIN
 GO 0.001 Diff                     -0.23    -0.02       9.52        -0.21  GO10-SIN-DIF
 Spot Jet/Kero                     50.17    -0.72      -1.41        50.89  JET-SIN
 Jet/Kero Diff                     -0.25     0.02      -7.41        -0.27  JET-SIN-DIF
 Brent M1                                                                                   
 Gasoil M1                                                                                  
 Gasoil M1/M2                                                                               
 Gasoil M2                                                                                  
 Regrade M1                                                                                 
 Regrade M2                                                                                 
 Jet M1                                                                                     
 Jet M1/M2                                                                                  
 Jet M2                                                                                     
 Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai                                                                        
 Cracks M1                                                                 
 Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai                                                                        
 Cracks M2                                                                 
 Jet Cracks M1                                                                              
 Jet Cracks M2                                                                              
 East-West M1                                                                               
 East-West M2                                                                               
 LGO M1                                                                                     
 LGO M1/M2                                                                                  
 LGO M2                                                                                     
 Crack LGO-Brent M1                                                                         
 Crack LGO-Brent M2

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Koustav Samanta; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)