SINGAPORE: Asia's benchmark 500ppm gasoil cash premium to Singapore quotes rose 6 cents to 25 cents a barrel, the highest since May 16 and driven higher by pockets of dry season demand, traders said on Monday.
Vietnam had previously bought 140,000 tonnes of gasoil for May delivery, similar to April purchases but double that of March, they said.
Demand for diesel has also been strong in India and Pakistan recently.
"... a large portion of Asia has required extra diesel for power generation amid a particularly severe drought," said JBC Energy in a May 30 daily note.
Stronger sentiment in the West also supported the overall market, traders said.
Strikes in France have blocked oil terminals and shut down refineries.
Union workers voted on Friday to extend strikes at Total's A Feyzin and Grandpuits refineries in France until May 30 and June 3 respectively, union officials told Reuters last week.
European refiners outside France and oil traders were gearing up to cash in on the unexpected demand for diesel created by the French strikes.
In the United States, distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell 1.3 million barrels last week, versus expectations for a 1.1 million barrel drop.
However, nagging concerns of high exports from China continued to haunt sellers, while cash deals in the Singapore market stayed comparatively slow.
China exported 1.24 million tonnes of gasoil in April, down just slightly from a new high of 1.25 million tonnes in March.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Hin Leong sold 200,000 barrels of jet fuel for June 19-23 loading to BP at $57.90 a barrel, making this the only middle distillates cash deal for the session.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.