SINGAPORE: Asia's cash differentials for 10ppm gasoil narrowed their discounts on Thursday, helped by firmer deals in the physical market after middle distillate inventories in Singapore declined.
Cash discounts for 10ppm gasoil were at 19 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a discount of 23 cents a barrel on Wednesday.
Singapore's onshore inventories for middle distillates dropped to a four-week low in the week to June 12, data from Enterprise Singapore showed on Thursday.
Refining margins, also known as cracks, for gasoil with 10ppm sulphur content slipped to $14.78 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trade, down 7 cents from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, refining margins for jet fuel climbed to $14.25 a barrel over Dubai crude, up from $14.19 per barrel a day earlier.
Cash differentials for jet fuel were at a premium of 5 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday, compared with a 8-cent premium on Wednesday.
SUSPECTED TANKER ATTACKS
Two tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and the crew have been evacuated, shipping sources said on Thursday, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, part of the Royal Navy, earlier said it was aware of an incident in the Gulf of Oman.
SINGAPORE INVENTORIES
Singapore onshore middle distillate stocks dropped 5.1pc to a four-week low of 10.5 million barrels in the week to June 12, according to Enterprise Singapore data.
Weekly middle distillate inventories have averaged 11.3 million barrels so far this year, having averaged 9.6 million barrels a week in 2018, Reuters calculations showed.
Overall, onshore middle distillate inventories were about 17pc higher year-on-year.
Light distillate stocks climbed 828,000 barrels to a five-week high of 12.3 million barrels in the week to Wednesday; while fuel oil stocks rose 1.6 million barrels also to a five-week high of 23.8 million barrels, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
EIA INVENTORIES
US crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly for a second straight week, despite the highest refining rates in six months and lower imports and production, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose 2.2 million barrels in the week to June 7, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 481,000 barrels.
Refinery crude runs rose 126,000 bpd as refinery utilization rates jumped 1.4 percentage points to 93.2% of total capacity, their highest since January, EIA data showed.
Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel increase, the EIA data showed.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Four gasoil trades, three jet fuel deals.
Singapore trader Hin Leong bought three separate casrgoes of 150,000 barrels of 10ppm gasoil each from Vitol for June 28-July 2, July 3-7 and July 8-12 loadings respectively, at a discount of 15 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes.
Hin Leong bought another 150,000 barrels of 10ppm gasoil from Zenrock for July 1-5 loading at a discount of 15 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes.
Chevron sold 100,000 barrels of jet fuel to Hin Leong for July 9-13 loading at parity to Singapore quotes.
CAO sold 100,000 barrels of jet fuel to Hin Leong for June 28-July 2 loading at a premium of 5 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes.
OTHER NEWS
Oil prices jumped as much as 4pc on Thursday after a suspected attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes.
World oil markets have undergone a U-turn, switching from supply-side risks like OPEC's production cuts or US sanctions against producers Iran and Venezuela, analysts said, to concerns of slowing consumption amid fears of a global recession.
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