Asia naphtha fell for the third day. Fuel oil’s discount to Dubai crude narrowed to the lowest in two months, signaling reduced losses for refiners turning oil into residual products.
Fuel Oil
Benchmark 180-centistoke fuel oil fell $3.25, or 0.5 percent, to $640 a metric ton today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price of 380-centistoke fuel oil, mainly used as marine fuel, slipped $3.50, or 0.6 percent, to $628.50 a ton.
There were no deals reported on the pricing system operated by Platts, traders said.
Fuel oil’s discount to Dubai narrowed $1.44, or 15 percent, to $8.04 a barrel, according to PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a London-based crude and refined-products broker. The premium of 180-centistoke fuel oil to 380-centistoke fuel oil dropped $1 to $11.50 a barrel, PVM data showed.
Light Distillates
Open-specification naphtha for delivery to Japan fell $8.75, or 0.9 percent, to $975.75 a metric ton today, Bloomberg data showed. The premium of Japan-delivered naphtha to Brent crude traded in London, or the crack spread, was little changed at $127.95 a ton from $127.43 at the end of Asian trading on May 13.
Benchmark 92-RON gasoline declined 1.7 percent to $118.85 a barrel, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Gasoline’s premium to naphtha fell $1 today to $12.40 a barrel, Bloomberg data showed. A narrower reforming margin indicates it’s less profitable to turn naphtha into gasoline compared with last week.
In Singapore, Total SA sold 50,000 barrels of 97-RON gasoline for loading June 2 to June 6 to Royal Dutch Shell Plc at $125 a barrel, traders said. Noble Group sold 50,000 barrels of 92-RON for May 31 to June 4 loading to Vitol Group at $118.90 a barrel.
Shell bought 25,000 tons of naphtha for second-half July delivery from Glencore International AG at $976 a ton.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s biggest state-owned oil company, will begin contract talks with Asian buyers next week for naphtha supplies in the second half of this year, according to three people familiar with the plan.
Middle Distillates
Gasoil, with 0.5 percent sulfur, fell $1.15, or 0.9 percent, to $124 a barrel, according to Bloomberg data. Jet fuel dropped $1.15, or 0.9 percent, to $125.65 a barrel.
In Singapore, Hin Leong Trading Pte bought 170,000 barrels of gasoil, with sulfur content of 0.5 percent, from Shell at parity to benchmark prices published by Platts. The cargo was for loading from May 31 to June 4.
Hin Leong sold 230,000 barrels of gasoil with 0.5 percent sulfur for loading June 2 to June 6 to Total at a premium of 10 cents above benchmark prices.
Winson Oil sold 150,000 barrels of gasoil with 10 parts- per-million of sulfur for loading May 31 to June 4 to Shell at a premium of $2.40 a barrel over prices of the 0.5 percent sulfur grade published by Platts.
Gasoil’s premium to Asian benchmark Dubai crude dropped 39 cents to $17.47 a barrel, Bloomberg data showed. This crack spread, a measure of refining profit, is at the lowest since May 11.
Jet fuel’s premium to gasoil, or the regrade, was unchanged at $1.80 a barrel, data from PVM showed.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net; Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
