SINGAPORE: Asia’s 10-ppm sulphur gasoil margins extended losses on cautious trading sentiment amid firmer oil futures.

Buying interest via open market tenders was muted, with refiners mostly offering February-loading parcels this week.

Refining margins for 10-ppm sulphur gasoil fell by more than $1 a barrel to close at $32.89.

Cash differentials fell to $1.87 a barrel as buyers were unwilling to meet selling expectations. Jet fuel refining margins fell to $32.89 a barrel, but weakness was cushioned by more expectations of better demand in China. Regrade as a result narrowed to a discount of $1.20 a barrel

Taiwan’s CPC Corp sells February gasoil at discount

US stockpiles of crude oil were expected to have fallen last week whereas gasoline and distillates inventories were seen rising, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Middle distillates stockpiles at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone hit a month high to 3.308 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 16, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights on Wednesday.

OPEC said on Tuesday Chinese oil demand would rebound this year due to relaxation of the country’s COVID-19 curbs and drive global growth, and sounded an optimistic note on the prospects for the world economy in 2023.

Chinese appetite for oil is expected to raise demand by 500,000 barrels per day after the country curbed its COVID restrictions, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais told Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia from Davos on Tuesday.

Indonesia’s crude oil lifting stood at 612,300 barrels per day (bpd) last year and gas lifting at 5,347 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), both below target, the country’s upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas said on Wednesday.

For 2023, oil lifting is targeted at 660,000 bpd and gas lifting is targeted at 6,160 mmscfd, SKK Migas Chief Dwi Soetjipto said at a briefing.

The lifting of COVID restrictions in China is set to boost global oil demand this year to a new record high, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, while price cap sanctions on Russia could dent supply.

Oil prices extended early gains to rise around 1% on Wednesday, on optimism that the lifting of China’s strict COVID curbs will lead to a recovery in fuel demand in the world’s top oil importer.

China’s diesel exports rose for a second month in December, while gasoline exports climbed for a third month, as the country’s COVID outbreak limited domestic fuel demand, and refiners utilised their expanded yearly export quotas.

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