Asia Distillates-Margins recover as spot liquidity improves slightly

Asia’s 10-ppm sulphur gasoil margins rose to $29.60 a barrel on Wednesday after two sessions of losses, tracking recovery in the futures market and a rise in spot liquidity trading momentum in the open market.

Ample supplies for end-October shipments, however, placed a cap on recovery, as more Asian refiners sought to sell spot lots via private negotiations. At least two northeast Asian sellers were in the market.

Cash differentials for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil rose by 1 cent a barrel as some buying interest resumed for prompt mid-October loading shipments.

Regrade widened to a discount to $3 a barrel as the strength in gasoil outweighed jet fuel performance, with some Chinese sellers out to start October sales discussions as well.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

One gasoil deal, no jet fuel deal.

INVENTORIES

– TotalEnergies TTEF.PA restarted the large crude distillation unit (CDU) on Saturday at its 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas refinery, said people familiar with plant operations.

NEWS

Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) has successfully exported its first shipment of advanced diesel, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Wednesday on social media platform X.

Russia said on Sept. 21 it had temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all but four ex-Soviet states in response to domestic shortages, a move that will disrupt global trade that has already had to adjust to Western sanctions on Russian fuel exports.

U.S. crude stockpiles at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub are at their lowest in 14 months due to strong refining and export demand, prompting concerns about the quality of the remaining oil and the potential to fall below minimum operating levels, traders and analysts said.

Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as markets focused on supply tightness heading into winter and a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy.

China’s oil products exports are set to rise in October as state-owned refiners capitalise on lucrative margins and some western demand, while international flights recover, industry sources and analysts said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Varun H K)