Asia distillates: Gasoil cash premiums extend rally for ninth session on high demand

SINGAPORE: Asia’s 10ppm sulphur gasoil spot cash premiums firmed for a ninth consecutive session on Monday as July buying interest in the open market remained strong.

Sellers remained few, with some participants still unclear if supply will ultimately lengthen in July. Support for buying sentiment also came from a slightly wider arbitrage window to the West, according to a few market players, although it was not fully economical for sellers to offload cargoes there yet.

South Korean refiner SK Energy offered three more spot 10ppm sulphur gasoil cargoes of 300,000 barrels each for second-half July loading which closed on Monday, signalling possibly better margins to sell gasoil instead of jet fuel, given earlier demand from Australia and a likely wider arbitrage selling window to the West soon.

The spread on paper swaps for July widened to $43.67 a metric ton, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, after primarily trading in a range of $30-$39 in the last month.

Likewise, refining margins for 10ppm sulphur gasoil kicked off the week higher at $19.24 a barrel against a backdrop of weaker oil prices.

Jet fuel refining margins also rose to $18.14 a barrel, tracking the gains in gasoil refining margins. Regrade, the spread between jet fuel and 10 ppm sulphur gasoil swaps, recorded limited change.

China’s exports of refined fuel products surged year-on-year in May, data showed on Sunday, as weak domestic demand saw refiners shift inventories overseas, while crude imports and throughput remained high.

Oil prices fell on Monday as questions over China’s economy outweighed OPEC+ output cuts and the seventh straight drop in the number of oil and gas rigs operating in the United States.