SINGAPORE, April 29 (Reuters) - Asia's middle distillates markets kicked off the trading week at a similar fast pace from the last session, with traders also awaiting for a clearer direction on June demand-supply fundamentals.
Some sporadic prompt May spot tenders emerged injecting further spot liquidity.
The narrowing of the East-West arbitrage in the past two weeks however has encouraged some reverse flow of Middle East and India swing suppliers back to Asia Pacific, which will likely weigh on prices and spot discussion levels in the near term.
At least two cargoes from India were fixed in the past few days loading in the first half of May to Singapore and Australia so far, one shipbroking source said.
April volumes on this India/Middle East-Asia Pacific also rose in comparison with March by more than 10 times, LSEG shiptracking data showed.
Refining margins remained at around $14 a barrel, almost steady from the previous session.
Cash differentials gained and surged back to being parity as one major buyer emerged from the sidelines, but remaining participants were at a buy-sell gap.
Meanwhile, the price difference between Asia and the U.S. west coast jet fuel prices continued to widen, with two sources saying that shipping enquiries may emerge soon if it continues to be viable.
Regrade recovered slightly to a discount of $1.65 a barrel.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
- Two gasoil deals, no jet fuel deals.
REFINERY NEWS
- A coker returned to normal operation on Friday afternoon, hours after being knocked out of production at Marathon Petroleum's MPC.N 593,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, said people familiar with plant operations.
NEWS
- Financial details of Shell's vast oil and gas trading business are some of the company's closest-held secrets. Documents in a lawsuit filed by a former employee, however, revealed its U.S. crude trading regularly earns around $1 billion every year.
- SK Innovation Co Ltd said on Monday its SK On battery-making unit is on target to breakeven in the second half of this year after it posted a forecast-beating operating profit in the first quarter, sending its shares up over 6%.
- Oil prices were down 1% on Monday, erasing gains from Friday as Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East and U.S. inflation data further dimmed the prospects of interest rate cuts anytime soon.
- China's manufacturing activity in April likely expanded at a slower pace, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, indicating the country's sprawling factory sector may have lost some momentum at the start of the second quarter.
- Russian oil producers cut fuel production in April compared to a year earlier due to Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia's Kommersant daily newspaper reported on Saturday citing sources.
- China's Sinopec posted an 8.9% decline in its first-quarter profit, as rising raw materials costs and more competition hurt its petrochemical business, offsetting higher fuel sales and oil prices.
PRICES
MIDDLE DISTILLATES
CASH ($/BBL) ASIA CLOSE Change Prev RIC
Close
Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 95.08 -0.26 95.34
GO 0.5 Diff -6.44 0.01 -6.45 <GO-SIN-DIF
>
Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 98.95 -0.26 99.21
GO 0.25 Diff -2.57 0.01 -2.58 <GO25-SIN-D
IF>
Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 100.00 -0.26 100.26
GO 0.05 Diff -1.52 0.01 -1.53 <GO005-SIN-
DIF>
Spot Gas Oil 0.001% 101.52 -0.21 101.73
GO 0.001 Diff 0.00 0.06 -0.06 <GO10-SIN-D
IF>
Spot Jet/Kero 99.57 -0.18 99.75
Jet/Kero Diff -0.33 0.04 -0.37 <JET-SIN-DI
F>
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 Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((trixie.yap@thomsonreuters.com;))
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