BLBG:Gasoline Rises in Asia; Trafigura Buys Gasoil: Oil Products
Gasoline rose in Asia after PetroChina Co. bought two cargoes in Singapore. Trafigura Beheer BV purchased 250,000 barrels of gasoil at a bigger discount than those for smaller cargoes bought by ConocoPhillips and Brightoil Petroleum Holdings.
Middle Distillates
Trafigura bought 250,000 barrels of gasoil with 0.5 percent sulfur from Royal Dutch Shell Plc at a discount of 60 cents below benchmark prices, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders monitoring the Platts window today. That compares with a discount of 40 cents below benchmark quotes that Singapore Petroleum Co. paid BP Plc for 150,000 barrels.
Hin Leong Trading Pte also sold 150,000 barrels to ConocoPhillips at a discount of 40 cents. The privately owned Singapore trader sold 150,000 barrels to Brightoil at a discount of 35 cents.
Gasoil’s premium to Dubai crude fell 27 cents to $17.45 barrel at 3:10 p.m. Singapore time, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a broker. The spread has fallen 3.8 percent in August, the fifth month that processing profits have dropped.
Jet fuel’s premium to gasoil, or the regrade rose 5 cents from the end of last month to $2.05 a barrel, indicating that the profitability of making aviation fuel over diesel is little changed.
Light Distillates
PetroChina bought two cargoes, each containing 50,000 barrels of 92-RON gasoline, at $127.20 a barrel, the survey of traders showed. Shell sold one cargo, while Total SA sold the other. Total also sold 50,000 barrels of 92-RON to Arcadia Petroleum Ltd. at $127.20 a barrel.
That compares with the $122.20 to $122.80 a barrel paid for 92-RON cargoes on Aug. 29. There was no oil trading on the Platts window yesterday because of a public holiday in Singapore.
Naphtha’s premium to London-traded Brent crude futures fell to $102.30 a ton at 6 p.m. Singapore time from $126.50 at the end of trading in Asia on Aug. 29, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. This crack spread, a measure of processing profit, was at $116.65 on July 29.
Fuel Oil
Fuel oil’s discount to Dubai crude widened 43 cents to $6.07 a barrel at 3:10 p.m. Singapore time, PVM said. The spread shrank from as much as $10.65 earlier today as crude oil pared losses in New York on speculation that the U.S. will take further steps to bolster its economy. Losses from making fuel oil have narrowed 15 percent this month.
The premium of 180-centistoke fuel oil to 380-centistoke was at $8 a ton from $9 on July 29, PVM said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net