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Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline margins reach two-week high; naphtha backwardation narrows

Asia’s gasoline margins climbed on Tuesday to more than a two-week high as 750,000 barrels of the benchmark grade of octane exchanged hands at the closing window. The crack rose to $6.02 per barrel over Brent crude, its highest since Oct. 18. Saudi Aramco emerged as the biggest seller yet again, as it sold 400,000 of 92-octane gasoline at the end of the trading day. In naphtha, the margins slipped to more than a week low to $111.40 per metric ton over Brent crude, its lowest since Oct. 25. The ...

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US natural gas prices edge up 1% ahead of Gulf of Mexico hurricane

U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Tuesday on worries that another hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico could disrupt output this week. Front-month gas futures NGc1 for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 2.4 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.805 per million British thermal units at 8:07 a.m. EST (1307 GMT). That small price increase occurred despite forecasts for milder weather and lower heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. The U.S. National Hurricane Center forecast Tropical Storm Rafael would strengthen ...

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Prices edge up on weak wind, ahead of US election

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose slightly on Tuesday morning on soft wind output and ahead of what is expected to be a tight U.S. presidential election. The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was 0.37 euro higher at 40.85 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or around $13/mmBtu by 0942 GMT, LSEG data showed. The British day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 rose by 1.15 pence to 102.50 p/therm, while the weekend contract was 1.40 pence higher at 101.25 p/therm. “Wind (generation) is weak which is driving demand (from ...

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Asia Distillates-Markets turn quiet; China’s Nov exports come in focus

Asia’s middle distillates markets turned slightly quiet, as evidenced from the lack of deals on the trading window, with talks of a shift in China’s export volumes for November coming into focus. Talks of some transference in export quotas by one of China’s key oil majors to enable more jet fuel exports emerged, with traders saying this will likely alleviate earlier regional supply tightness of fuel. Buying will likely cease from China in this case, one trader said, though the market’s supply-demand balance should remain strong given the opened arbitrage ...

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US elections pose bearish risk to global LNG markets, Goldman says

The upcoming U.S. election could pose a bearish risk to global natural gas markets, specifically liquefied natural gas (LNG), despite the anticipated limited near-term impact on domestic markets, Goldman Sachs said. “Any significant changes to U.S. sanctions or tariff policies would potentially soften LNG and thus European and Asian gas markets at the margin,” the bank said in a note. A bearish LNG price skew is expected due to a potential increase in Russia’s supply and a decrease in China demand, the U.S. investment bank noted. The bank’s base case ...

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Market participants’ long and short positions in European gas futures diverge further

Dutch TTF natural gas futures saw combined long and short positions exceed 3 billion lots by Oct. 25, driven by increased activity from investment funds amid shifting market dynamics and geopolitical tensions. Total long and short positions held for Dutch TTF natural gas futures rose further over the week ending Oct. 25 to just over 3 billion lots, the latest Commitment of Trader data from Intercontinental Exchange showed. Commercial undertakings made up some 63.8% of this total, down slightly on the week, while the share held by investment funds saw ...

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Europe Gas: Prices rise as low wind boosts gas-for-power demand

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose on Monday morning as low wind speeds raised gas demand for power generation, while strong inventories and above-normal temperatures could limit further rises. The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was 0.98 euro higher at 39.88 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0926 GMT, LSEG data showed. The day-ahead contract contract was 1.28 euro higher at 39.53 euros/MWh. The British contract for the weekend TRGBNBPWE was 4.00 pence higher at 99.25 pence per therm, while the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 rose by ...

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Nigeria’s Dangote blames weak regulatory oversight for ‘dumped’ fuel undercutting supply

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery has blamed poor enforcement of the country’s new fuel quality standards for shrinking demand for its gasoline, with international traders among those capitalizing on weak oversight, according to a refinery executive and a company statement. The 650,000 b/d refinery had planned to market its gasoline locally to bolster Nigeria’s energy independence and break a history of import reliance on Europe. Yet it has run into issues distributing its supply since beginning gasoline production in September, forcing it to resort to holding 500 million liters in storage, CEO ...

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South Korean refiners’ losses deepen in Q3, margins set to improve in Q4

South Korean refiners reported on Monday sharp losses in the third quarter from oil refining, but expect their margins to recover in the fourth quarter with peak winter demand and refinery run cuts in Asia. SK Innovation 096770.KS, parent of South Korea’s largest refiner SK Energy, said the July-September quarter operating loss for its refining business was 616.6 billion won ($450.2 million), its largest loss since the fourth quarter of 2022. Declining oil prices amid concerns over slowing demand in China and a potential recession in the U.S. caused “significant” ...

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Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline margins rise to two-week high; naphtha margins inch up

Asia’s gasoline margins climbed to a two-week high on Monday, as 850,000 barrels of the benchmark grade of gasoline exchanged hands at the closing window. The crack climbed to $4.89 per barrel over Brent crude, its highest since Oct. 21. Saudi Aramco emerged as the most active seller in the trade window, selling 450,000 barrels of the 92-octane gasoline. In naphtha, the crack inched up by $0.04 to $115.93 per metric ton over Brent crude. Regional traders said that they expect naphtha margins to climb further as regional crackers are ...

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Asia Distillates-Window activity upbeat; markets await Dec refiner sales

Asia’s middle distillates markets kicked off the trading week with plentiful window trades, with traders also awaiting December refiner sales to start soon in the next few days. Talks of refiners likely to start their term negotiations for 2025 emerged as well, several trade sources said. Meanwhile, China’s export barrels are likely to stay curtailed for middle distillates, given the rise in gasoline exports, with diesel volumes estimated at less than 400,000 metric tons for November so far. Exports for the aviation and heating fuel from China are likely to ...

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Asian spot LNG steady on warmer than average temperature forecasts

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices held steady this week as forecasts of warmer-than-average temperatures in both northeast Asia and northwest Europe capped demand expectations. The average LNG price for December delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $13.80 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), industry sources estimated. “The weather forecast in Europe points to a rather mild start to November, which is further depressing heating demand,” said Florence Schmit, energy strategist at Rabobank London. “Weather forecasts for some parts of northeast Asia also point to temperatures above 10-year ...

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US natgas prices slip 2% on mild forecasts, rising storage levels

U.S. natural gas futures slid about 2% on Friday on forecasts for mild weather to continue through mid-November, keeping heating demand lower than usual for this time of year and allowing utilities to add more gas into storage for at least a few more weeks. Front-month gas futures NGc1 for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) were down 4.4 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $2.663 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Despite Friday’s price decline, the front-month was still up about 4% this week after climbing ...

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Europe Gasoline/Naphtha-Gasoline cracks end week lower

Northwest European gasoline refining margins edged higher by 37 cents on Friday to about $6.72 a barrel, ending the week $1.53 lower than the previous Friday. Some 12,000 metric tons of Eurobob E5 barges were traded. Gunvor, Litasco and TotalEnergies sold to Shell, BP and Glencore. A further 10,000 tons of Eurobob E10 barges traded, with Varo and Gunvor selling to Litasco and Glencore. Crack spreads fell over the week against a backdrop of lower exports in October, but improved transatlantic arbitrage economics could soon see profit margins pick up, ...

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Europe Distillates-Diesel margins end week higher

Northwest European diesel barge profit margins fell by about $1.81 to $16.66 a barrel on Friday, marking a 13% week-on-week rise as stocks fell in ARA despite higher October imports into Europe. “Global diesel and jet crack spreads have rebounded nicely, with Singapore spreads gaining sharply on reduced Chinese exports,” said Sparta Commodities analyst Philip Jones-Lux. “In October, global diesel deliveries to Europe have been adjusted upwards to a 22-month high of 7.77 million metric tons. Volumes from the Middle East and Asia have remained nearly unchanged, with an uptick ...

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