Asia Distillates-Diesel premiums up on Indian demand

SINGAPORE, August 2 (Reuters) – Asian diesel premiums

climbed on Thursday after a temporary dip earlier in the week on

Indian demand and on news of an extended refinery shutdown in

Japan, traders said.

The premiums for the 10 ppm sulphur diesel gained 10 cents

to $3.70 a barrel on Thursday, Reuters data showed.

Indian Oil Corp emerged in the spot market after a

month, to seek prompt diesel cargo for mid-August on a refinery

maintenance in south India, traders said.

The company is seeking 60,000 tonnes of diesel for delivery

into Haldia and Chennai. IOC’s subsidiary, Chennai Petroleum,

started planned maintenance at its 190,000 barrels per day (bpd)

Manali refinery in Chennai last week, which is expected to run

until the end of September.

A combination of a spike in diesel use in India during two

days of massive electricity blackouts this week and refinery

maintenance in the country is expected to boost imports.

In Japan, supply is expected to remain tight until

September, with refiner Cosmo Oil Co unlikely to

restart two crude distillation units (CDUs) at its 220,000 bpd

Chiba refinery until at least mid-September.

Cosmo had been considering restarting the two CDUs from July

initially, but the restart has been delayed due to an ongoing

investigation into an asphalt leak into the sea at the refinery

in late June.

The company would also take the steps needed to cope with

the shutdown, including cutting oil exports and buying oil at

home and overseas. This is expected to curtail diesel and jet

fuel exports from the country in September.

Indonesia’s Petral, the trading arm of Pertamina, is seeking

spot barrels for September, after earlier seeking slightly more

volumes for August. Results of that tender, however, are not

known.

In the Middle East, Saudi Aramco is likely to have sold a

high-sulphur gasoil cargo at premiums of $3.50 to $4 a barrel

above Middle East quotes, traders said. But this could not be

confirmed.

Bahrain Petroleum Corp has sold a September loading jet fuel

cargo at a premium of $2.30-2.50 a barrel above Middle East

quotes, similar to an August-loading cargo, a trader said.

It earlier cancelled a gasoil cargo it had offered for

August due to operational issues.

Supply is expected to be tight for at least another 2 to 3

months in the Gulf, traders added.

* TENDERS: Petral is seeking 100,000 barrels of jet fuel for

delivery into Jakarta over September 13 to 15 and 100,000

barrels of the product for delivery into Batam over September 14

to 16. The tender closes on August 6 and is valid until August

7.

* CASH DEALS: No jet deals, one gasoil trade.

– Unipec bought 150,000 barrels of 0.5 percent sulphur

gasoil for August 22 to 26 loading from BP at a premium of 40

cents a barrel over the average of August 2 to 15 Singapore

quotes.

MID-DISTILLATES

CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC

Close

Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 120.82 0.67 0.56 120.15

GO 0.5 Diff 0.63 -0.10 -13.70 0.73

Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 122.19 0.77 0.63 121.42

GO 0.25 Diff 1.95 -0.05 -2.50 2.00

Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 122.94 0.77 0.63 122.17

GO 0.05 Diff 2.75 0.00 0.00 2.75

Spot Gas Oil 123.89 0.87 0.71 123.02

0.001%

GO 0.001 Diff 3.70 0.10 2.78 3.60

Spot Jet/Kero 121.41 0.79 0.65 120.62

Jet/Kero Diff 0.46 0.06 15.00 0.40

SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev PM (1130 GMT)

(0830 GMT) Close

Brent M1 106.28 1.29 1.23 104.99

Gasoil M1 120.41 0.80 0.67 119.61

Gasoil M1/M2 0.82 0.07 9.33 0.75

Gasoil M2 119.59 0.73 0.61 118.86

Regrade M1 0.67 -0.04 -5.63 0.71

Regrade M2 0.99 -0.07 -6.60 1.06

Jet M1 121.08 0.76 0.63 120.32

Jet M1/M2 0.50 0.10 25.00 0.40

Jet M2 120.58 0.66 0.55 119.92

Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 18.08 -0.06 -0.33 18.14

Cracks M1

Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 17.88 -0.10 -0.56 17.98

Cracks M2

Jet Cracks M1 19.07 -0.13 -0.68 19.20

Jet Cracks M2 19.17 -0.16 -0.83 19.33

East-West M1 -12.45 -1.29 11.56 -11.16

East-West M2 -16.31 -1.69 11.56 -14.62

LGO M1 909.50 7.25 0.80 902.25

LGO M1/M2 2.25 0.13 6.13 2.12

LGO M2 907.25 7.12 0.79 900.13

Crack LGO-Brent M1 15.50 -0.33 -2.08 15.83

Crack LGO-Brent M2 16.38 -0.20 -1.21 16.58

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan)