NEW DELHI: Asia’s cash premiums for 10ppm gasoil dropped more than 13% this week over worries about slowing fuel demand amid fears of a global slowdown, market sources said.
Cash differentials for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content were at a premium of $2.98 a barrel to Singapore quotes, the lowest since March 2, down from $3.29 per barrel on Thursday.
Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil slipped to $46.92 a barrel over Dubai crude in Asian trading hours, compared with $47.29 a day earlier.
“Fear of new lockdowns in China amid spread of a highly contagious Omicron subvariant was a key driver (of weakness in the cracks),” Abhishek Kumar, analyst at Refinitiv Oil Research wrote in a report, adding that Indian demand is also expected to decline as the country has entered monsoon season.
Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area rose by more than 3% to 1.546 million tonnes in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
Jet fuel stocks declined to 808,000 tonnes in the week from 812,000 tonnes in the prior week. No gasoil deal, no jet fuel trades.
Oil prices rose on Friday after a US official told Reuters an immediate Saudi oil output boost is not expected, with further support from indications that the US central bank could raise interest rates less aggressively than anticipated.
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