Singapore gasoil differentials fell on Monday on the back of higher volumes of cargoes headed to the city-state, traders said. A closed arbitrage to ship gasoil cargoes from east to west is pulling the cargoes to Singapore instead and likely heading to storage, they added.
– END OF TERM: Indonesia’s Pertamina and Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) have ended a long-standing diesel term contract, amid a sharp fall in imports by the Southeast Asian country and KPC’s move to increased higher grade production. Traders said the move partly reflected a change in KPC’s production to increasing volumes of higher quality diesel with a sulphur content of 500-parts-per-million (ppm). Filling a contract for Pertamina, which required lower quality diesel with a sulphur content of maximum 3,000 ppm or 0.3 percent, with more expensive product was uneconomic for KPC, a source close to the matter said.
– CHINA STOCKS: China’s diesel stocks at the end of February were up nearly 30 percent over the month to about 10.57 million tonnes, the highest in 11 months, according to Reuters calculations based on percentage changes reported and historical data. Kerosene stocks, however, fell nearly 2 percent.
– NEW REFINING UNITS: State-run Taiwanese refiner CPC Corp said on Monday it plans to start trial runs at new refining units located in the south of the country in May, delayed from earlier this year. The units include a crude distillation unit (CDU) with a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, two hydrotreaters with a total capacity of 70,000 bpd, and a 50,000-bpd condensate splitter.
– INDONESIA JET DEAL: Indonesia’s Pertamina could have bought up to 200,000 barrels of jet fuel for April delivery from Hin Leong, a Singapore-based trader said, though the deal could not immediately be confirmed. – BAHRAIN SPOT DEALS: Bahrain Petroleum Co may have sold a jet fuel cargo for April 15 to 16 loading at a premium of about 50 cents a barrel above Middle East quotes, traders said, though this could not immediately be confirmed. – SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: One gasoil deal and no jet fuel trades. Hin Leong sold 155,000 barrels of 10ppm sulphur diesel for April 14 to 18 loading to Vitol at a premium of 30 cents a barrel to the average of April 12 to 19 Singapore quotes.
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Sunil Nair)
