The prompt month EFS spread , a differential between Asian gasoil paper swaps and ICE gasoil futures, fell to the lowest in the week at a discount of less than $38 a tonne. Supplies remained sufficient, with May volumes likely to remain steady from north and southeast Asian refiners and discussions are likely to start next week, a few traders said.
Decreases were capped by expectations of preliminary lower export volume estimates from China for April - around 500,000 tonnes, from data compiled by consultancies Refinitiv Oil Research and Longzhong.
Cash differentials were supported by prompt mid-April shortcovering demand in the open trading market, although some participants were sceptical if this represented organic demand.
Regrade recouped some earlier losses and closed the trading session at a discount of around $3.85 per barrel.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS - One gasoil deal, no jet fuel deal.
INVENTORIES - U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week as refineries restarted operations after maintenance and imports fell to a two-year low, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Distillate stockpiles , which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 300,000 barrels in the week to 116.7 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.5 million-barrel drop, the EIA data showed. - Inventories of middle distillates at key trading hub Singapore climbed further by 2.3% week on week despite an increase in total net export volumes, official data showed on Thursday. NEWS - Privately controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), operator of China's largest refinery, said on Thursday it has reached a strategic agreement with state refining giant Sinopec on the domestic marketing of its fuel. Under a deal reached earlier this week, Sinopec will handle more than 60% of ZPC's domestic refined products sales, worth about 55 billion yuan ($8.0 billion) a year, the company said in a statement posted on its WeChat account. - PetroChina's , net profit jumped 62.1% to a record high last year as stronger energy prices more than offset weak demand for fuel and chemicals, China's largest oil and gas producer said on Wednesday. - Shell has decided not to go ahead with two projects it was studying to produce biofuels and base oils in Singapore, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.
PRICES
MID-DISTILLATES
CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC
Close
Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 92.26 -1.13 -1.21 93.39 GO 0.5 Diff -6.47 0.14 -2.12 -6.61 Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 91.81 -1.13 -1.22 92.94 GO 0.25 Diff -6.92 0.14 -1.98 -7.06 <GO25-SIN-DIF
>
Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 96.66 -1.13 -1.16 97.79 GO 0.05 Diff -2.07 0.14 -6.33 -2.21 <GO005-SIN-DI
F>
Spot Gas Oil 0.001% 100.23 -1.12 -1.11 101.35 GO 0.001 Diff 1.5 0.14 10.29 1.36 <GO10-SIN-DIF
>
Spot Jet/Kero 95.1 -0.8 -0.83 95.9 Jet/Kero Diff 0.44 0.03 7.32 0.41 For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please
double click the RICs below.
Brent M1 Gasoil M1 Gasoil M1/M2 Gasoil M2 Regrade M1 Regrade M2 Jet M1 Jet M1/M2 Jet M2 Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M1
Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M2
Jet Cracks M1 Jet Cracks M2 East-West M1 East-West M2 LGO M1 LGO M1/M2 LGO M2 Crack LGO-Brent M1 Crack LGO-Brent M2 (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
