Asian Refineries Run Hard, Worsening Jet Oversupply

摘要

Oversupply in the Asia-Pacific jet market is expected to worsen as strong downstream margins encourage regional refineries to operate at full throttle at a time when China and India are boosting jet exports. Some refineries in South Korea, Japan and Thailand are running at close to capacity and churning out large jet volumes, even though some plants are trying to maximize production of light distillates at the expense of jet and gasoil. Unless refining margins fall, jet production is likely to remain high and put more pressure on the Asian market, which is already weighed down by a relatively mild winter (JFI Nov.30’15). Several refineries are trying to produce more highervalue naphtha and gasoline, with Taiwanese and Korean facilities shifting jet production toward naphtha. But that shift is relatively limited, and with jet prices significantly higher than gasoil prices, jet is still more attractive to refiners than gasoil.