SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Asian regrade prices - the price difference between jet fuel and gasoil - climbed to an almost one year high on Thursday as jet fuel found strength from the United States and China ahead of year-end travel amid short supply.
October regrade prices in the derivatives market climbed 24 cents to $3.01 a barrel, the highest since Oct. 17 last year, Reuters data showed.
Chevron Corp
said this week the central crude oil refining unit at its 245,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Richmond, California refinery would remain shut for the rest of the year.
Chevron had earlier bought jet fuel from Taiwan's Formosa, likely to ship it to the United States, traders said. This despite arbitrage economics not being very workable for the North Asia to U.S. route.
With several refinery outages in the U.S. causing low stocks, jet fuel shipments are expected to continue to head to the United States, traders said.
Data from the Singapore government agency International Enterprise (IE) showed Singapore exporting a jet fuel cargo to the United States in the week to Oct. 10.
China's demand for jet fuel has also been high due to increased travelling during a one-week holiday last week and as it starts to stockpile ahead of year-end peak demand, it said.
Gasoil saw some strength with Jordan Petroleum entering the market to seek 500,000 tonnes for delivery over three months from December.
If more Vietnamese importers enter the market to seek spot cargoes, this could quickly push up margins for gasoil, a trader said.
Still, demand elsewhere remained weak. The Philippines exported a rare diesel cargo to Singapore in the week to Oct. 10, IE data showed.
The country is usually a net diesel importer. Royal Dutch Shell could likely have been transferring the diesel cargo within its system or bringing it into Singapore storage tanks, a second trader said.
India's Essar Oil has yet to offer diesel cargoes for November loading, but is expected to offer at least two cargoes, as Indian diesel demand continues to remain weak on a delayed monsoon season.
* TENDERS: Jordan Petroleum Refinery is seeking about 500,000 tonnes of 0.5 percent sulphur gasoil for delivery over December to February. The tender closes on Oct. 30.
* SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Two jet deals, one gasoil trade.
- Unipec bought 100,000 barrels of jet fuel for Nov. 2-6 loading from BP at a premium of 10 cents a barrel above the average of Oct. 11-17 Singapore quotes.
- Shell sold 100,000 barrels of jet fuel for Oct. 26-30 loading to Unipec at a premium of $1.15 a barrel above the average of Oct. 25-Nov. 1 Singapore quotes.
- Shell sold 150,000 barrels of 0.5 percent sulphur gasoil for Oct. 26-30 loading to Vitol at a premium of 50 cents a barrel above Singapore quotes.
MID-DISTILLATES CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC Close Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 131.08 1.09 0.84 129.99 GO 0.5 Diff 0.58 0.00 0.00 0.58 Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 132.51 1.11 0.84 131.40 GO 0.25 Diff 2.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 133.30 1.05 0.79 132.25 GO 0.05 Diff 2.79 -0.11 -3.79 2.90 Spot Gas Oil 134.89 1.14 0.85 133.75 0.001% GO 0.001 Diff 4.38 0.03 0.69 4.35 Spot Jet/Kero 134.15 1.42 1.07 132.73 Jet/Kero Diff 1.01 0.06 6.32 0.95 SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev PM (1130 GMT) (0830 GMT) Close Brent M1 115.14 0.65 0.57 114.49 Gasoil M1 130.79 0.67 0.51 130.12 Gasoil M1/M2 0.57 0.02 3.64 0.55 Gasoil M2 130.22 0.65 0.50 129.57 Regrade M1 3.01 0.24 8.66 2.77 Regrade M2 2.27 0.34 17.62 1.93 Jet M1 133.80 0.91 0.68 132.89 Jet M1/M2 1.31 -0.08 -5.76 1.39 Jet M2 132.49 0.99 0.75 131.50 Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 19.48 -0.19 -0.97 19.67 Cracks M1 Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 19.53 -0.18 -0.91 19.71 Cracks M2 Jet Cracks M1 21.75 0.15 0.69 21.60 Jet Cracks M2 21.48 0.14 0.66 21.34 East-West M1 -52.37 -8.01 18.06 -44.36 East-West M2 -37.49 -3.66 10.82 -33.83 LGO M1 1026.75 13.00 1.28 1013.75 LGO M1/M2 19.12 4.50 30.78 14.62 LGO M2 1007.63 8.50 0.85 999.13 Crack LGO-Brent M1 20.11 0.49 2.50 19.62 Crack LGO-Brent M2 19.39 0.51 2.70 18.88
(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
((jessica.jaganathan@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3822)(Reuters Messaging: jessica.jaganathan.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS DISTILLATES/ASIA