SINGAPORE: Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil climbed on Monday, primarily buoyed by weaker feedstock crude prices, while the prompt-month spread for the industrial fuel remained in a contango structure.
Refining profit margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil rose to $6.13 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, up from $5.27 per barrel in the last trading session on Friday.
The regional gasoil market is currently awash with supplies, especially due to heavy export volumes from China and India, while recovery in demand remains lacklustre, trade sources said.
China’s diesel exports in March were around 2.34 million tonnes, the highest since April 2020, while diesel exports from India rose to a two-month high of 2.36 million tonnes last month, Refinitiv Oil Research assessments showed.
Steady Chinese exports in April would likely dampen expectations for a tighter gasoil market during the spring refinery maintenance season, market watchers said.
The April/May time spread for the benchmark 10 ppm gasoil grade in Singapore, which has little changed its contango structure over the last two weeks, traded at a discount of 21 cents per barrel on Monday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Cash discounts for 10 ppm gasoil narrowed to 23 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, supported by an uptick in buying interest for physical cargoes in the trade window on Monday.
Stung by the collapse of Asia’s top independent oil trading firm, some global banks have teamed up to seek the personal assets of the family behind Hin Leong Trading, which has left creditors on the hook for billions of dollars.
As part of what sources say is the biggest legal case in living memory in Singapore, liquidators and creditors are hunting for assets from the city-state to China to Australia belonging to the Lim family, after the Singapore-based company was wound up in March.
At a hearing on Monday, court-appointed liquidators will ask the Singapore High Court to freeze the family’s assets worldwide, from multimillion-dollar homes to country club memberships, shares and funds, three sources with knowledge of the case told Reuters.
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