SINGAPORE: Asia’s gasoil market was thinly discussed on Monday, with margins almost unchanged at around $14.70 a barrel amid a long weekend holiday season in the West, despite some spot buying interest for June parcels from Vietnam.
A portion of the market is likely to start July offers in the next few days, which could improve liquidity. Likewise, 10 ppm sulphur gasoil cash differentials were equally stable.
Jet fuel refining margins, however, fell slightly to around $13.40 a barrel, widening the regrade to a discount of $1.30 a barrel. There was talk of slow regional demand weighing on short run margin movements for the aviation fuel, as evidenced from the contango swap price structure.
China’s independent oil refiners are ramping up fuel oil imports to process into gasoline and diesel amid robust refining margins as ongoing cargo inspections at refining hub Shandong have cut off supplies of lower-priced feedstock bitumen blend.
Oil prices were steady on Monday after US leaders reached a tentative debt ceiling deal, possibly averting a default in the world’s largest economy and oil consumer, but concerns about further interest rate hikes capped gains.
Vietnam’s imports of crude oil, coal and gas in the first five months of 2023 rose strongly from a year earlier, despite a plunge in overall imports, official data showed on Monday.
China’s factory activity likely contracted further in May, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, adding to pressures facing the world second-biggest economy amid an uneven economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leading crude exporter Saudi Arabia is maximising refining profits by importing unprecedented amounts of cheap Russian diesel and in turn shipping record volumes to Singapore, where the fuel can achieve higher margins, shiptracking data shows.
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