Asian spot prices rise on refinery outages, demand.

摘要

Spot product prices posted small rebounds in the week to Jan. 27. Refinery outages helped support middle distillates, while firm demand and falling stocks underpinned light distillates and fuel oil. Trading slowed at the end of the period, as players prepared for closed markets in several countries for the Lunar New Year holidays. Gasoil and jet fuel prices inched up, but differentials took a hit at mid-week due to another bearish climb in stocks. Singaporean inventories of middle distillates jumped for the second week in a row, hitting a seven-week high. Rising exports from China, which were at least partially to blame for the higher Singaporean stocks, also pressured down middle distillates. China's diesel exports in Dec. spiked 81.4 on the year to a record 1.78MM mt (13.4MM bbl). Despite the swelling stocks, a flurry of recent refinery outages has kept a floor under the market, buoying margins. Following recent refinery outages in India, Japan, and the Middle East, a desulfurfzation unit was knocked offline on Thursday at Idemitsu Kosan's 200K-b/d Chiba, Japan facility due to a fire at a heat exchanger. Planned maintenance in Indonesia also added to the downed capacity and bullish sentiment. Meanwhile, the soaring stock levels may have opened up the East-West jet fuel arbitrage window, sources noted, as at least two vessels were provisionally booked for Europe. Kerosene inventories in Japan tumbled to a six-month low, which could lend support to jet fuel. Tight supplies of kerosene, which is used as a heating fuel in Japan, might encourage refiners to ramp up output of the fuel, which could take production capacity away from jet fuel, resulting in lower inventories of the aviation fuel.