Thin activity; outlooks mixed among traders

Asia’s middle distillates markets saw slightly thinner activity ahead of a long holiday, but traders remained mixed on forward demand-supply fundamentals.

Swing suppliers were still in action with their February spot sales, but a handful of traders were still waiting to see if there would be more northeast Asian barrels available after the holidays.

Meanwhile, talks of some prolonged production disruptions in southeast Asia emerged, which could be supportive for tight supply conditions.

However, traders were wary about the possibility of more Russian barrels entering the market.

Refining margins (GO10SGCKMc1) gained slightly to above $13.5 a barrel, clawing back some losses from the previous trading session.

Cash differentials (GO10-SIN-DIF) fell slightly to around 69 cents a barrel, with selling interest continuing to be firm for prompt February parcels.

Regrade (JETREG10SGMc1) was roughly around discount of 60 cents a barrel, little changed from the previous trading session.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

– One 10ppm gasoil deal, no jet fuel deals

INVENTORIES

– U.S. crude oil stockpiles and gasoline were expected to have risen last week while distillate inventories likely fell, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

REFINERY NEWS

– Motiva Enterprises began shutting on Monday the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker at its 626,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery for a planned two-month overhaul, people familiar with plant operations said.

NEWS

– Russian refineries are processing more crude oil in the hope of boosting fuel exports after new U.S. sanctions on Russian tankers and traders made exports of unprocessed crude more difficult, two industry sources said and data showed.

– Cosmo Energy Holdings 5021 said on Monday it will start supplying sustainable aviation fuel to Japan Airlines 9201 and All Nippon Airways 9202 from April, marking the first supply of domestically produced green fuel.

– China’s Sinopec plans to raise crude throughput next month by 100,000 to 150,000 barrels per day from January to meet a rise in travel demand during the Lunar New Year holiday and compensate for run cuts at independent refiners, trade sources said.
Source: Reuters