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)