Asia Distillates-Jet cracks post steepest weekly drop in nearly 4 months
Asian refining margins for jet fuel dropped on Friday, posting their biggest weekly decline in nearly four months, as a majority of international flights continue to remain grounded amid prolonged coronavirus-led restrictions across the region.
Refining margins, also known as cracks, for jet fuel were at minus 63 cents a barrel to Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with a discount of 49 cents a day earlier.
The cracks this week have seen their steepest weekly drop since April 24, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. They had closed last week at a premium of 54 cents a barrel over Dubai crude.
The aviation sector, which has been struggling to survive its worst downturn, is now expected to remain under pressure through the whole of the third quarter, industry sources said.
Hong Kong and Singapore were among the worst affected countries with the number of flights scheduled to operate as of the week to Aug. 17 being lesser than 10% compared with the year ago period, aviation data firm OAG said in a statement.
Scheduled flights in Australia were down 75.1% year on year in the week to Monday, while South Korea’s scheduled flights were 40.2% lower than the corresponding period last year, OAG data showed.
Cash discounts for jet fuel JET-SIN-DIF were at 50 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with a 55-cent discount on Thursday.
INDIA FUEL EXPORTS
– India’s diesel exports dipped 1.4% to 2.06 million tonnes in July, down from 2.09 million tonnes in June, government data showed. The July exports dropped 21.1% year on year, data showed.
– The country exported about 230,000 tonnes of jet fuel in July, compared with 250,000 tonnes in June and 480,000 tonnes in July 2019, data showed.
ARA STOCKS
– Jet fuel stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub STK-JET-ARA dropped 4% to 991,000 tonnes in the week to Aug. 20, down from a record high in the previous week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
– The data showed ARA gasoil inventories STK-GO-ARA rose 3% to 2.6 million tonnes.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
– Two gasoil deals, no jet fuel trades
ASSESSMENTS MID-DISTILLATES CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev Close RIC Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 47.07 -0.48 -1.01 47.55 GO-SIN GO 0.5 Diff -2.33 -0.26 12.56 -2.07 GO-SIN-DIF Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 47.22 -0.44 -0.92 47.66 GO25-SIN GO 0.25 Diff -2.18 -0.22 11.22 -1.96 GO25-SIN-DIF Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 47.38 -0.31 -0.65 47.69 GO005-SIN GO 0.05 Diff -2.02 -0.09 4.66 -1.93 GO005-SIN-DIF Spot Gas Oil 0.001% 49.01 -0.15 -0.31 49.16 GO10-SIN GO 0.001 Diff -0.39 0.07 -15.22 -0.46 GO10-SIN-DIF Spot Jet/Kero 43.07 0.16 0.37 42.91 JET-SIN Jet/Kero Diff -0.50 0.05 -9.09 -0.55 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)