SINGAPORE: Asia’s 10-ppm sulphur gasoil margins recovered from two straight days of losses and closed at $26.74 a barrel on Wednesday as some buyers returned to the market.
“After all, the spread is at almost a one-year low if we put it into historical perspective,” one trader said.
Support also came from a large drawdown in Fujairah stock levels, which some industry sources said was expected given that buyers are taking cargoes here after the ban on Russian oil products to the EU had started.
Cash differentials posted a day-on-day decline to $1.23 a barrel as sellers were readily available for prompt end-February loading material. Jet fuel refining margins rose to $26.39 a barrel, at a slower pace than gasoil gains, widening the regrade to a discount of 35 cents.
US crude oil inventories fell last week, while fuel inventories rose, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Crude stocks fell by about 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 3, they said. Gasoline inventories rose by about 5.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 1.1 million barrels, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Middle distillate stock levels at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone hit a nine-month low to 1.73 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 6, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.
A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, state media reported on Wednesday, citing the emergencies ministry. “In Rostov Region, Novoshakhtinsk city ... a message was received at 10:24 am Moscow time about a fire on the territory of an oil products processing plant,” the ministry said.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has diversified its sources of energy imports but will continue to buy most of its oil from the Middle East for a long time, the South Asian country’s oil minister said on Wednesday.
Oil rose for a third straight day on Wednesday as investor concern eased about US interest rate hikes and an industry report pointed to a drop in US crude inventories.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that European Union moves to add what he called “exemptions” to its price cap on oil products showed that Russian oil was still in demand.