Asia Distillates-Cracks edge down on thin demand

Asia's gasoil and jet fuel margins edged lower on Monday in the absence of most sentiment-supporting factors, with the exception of refinery maintenance, traders said.

The May gasoil crack, or profit from processing a barrel of crude into the fuel, slipped 48 cents to $17.72 a barrel above Dubai crude while the jet fuel crack fell 54 cents to $15.73, Reuters data showed.
The physical regrade, or the price difference between jet fuel and gasoil in Asia, widened to minus $2.32, weighed down by low demand for jet fuel, the sources said. "For the moment, there are few things to support jet fuel as the use of kerosene for heating is over," a trader said.
 

Amid thin demand for gasoil and jet fuel in Asia, refinery maintenance in the second quarter has provided some support to the market. Japanese oil refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu said its subsidiary Toa Oil Co had closed the sole 70,000-barrels-per-day No.3 crude distillation unit at Keihin refinery in eastern Japan for two months of scheduled maintenance.   
    
TENDERS:
India's MRPL sold 40,000 tonnes of jet fuel for May to Totsa at a discount of around 80-85 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes.
       
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS:

One each for gasoil and jet fuel. BP sold 150,000 barrels of 500-ppm gasoil to Sietco for April 27 to May 1 loading at a premium of $0.25 a barrel to Singapore quotes. Vitol sold 100,000 barrels of jet fuel to BP for April 25-29 loading at a premium of $0.20 a barrel to Singapore quotes.

 

Reporting by Jane Chung