SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Asian regrade prices - theprice difference between jet fuel and gasoil - climbed to analmost one year high on Thursday as jet fuel found strength fromthe United States and China ahead of year-end travel amid shortsupply.
October regrade prices in the derivatives market climbed 24cents to $3.01 a barrel, the highest since Oct. 17 last year,Reuters data showed.
Chevron Corp
said this week the central crude oilrefining 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. Thisdespite arbitrage economics not being very workable for theNorth Asia to U.S. route.
With several refinery outages in the U.S. causing lowstocks, jet fuel shipments are expected to continue to head tothe United States, traders said.
Data from the Singapore government agency InternationalEnterprise (IE) showed Singapore exporting a jet fuel cargo tothe United States in the week to Oct. 10.
China's demand for jet fuel has also been high due toincreased travelling during a one-week holiday last week and asit starts to stockpile ahead of year-end peak demand, it said.
Gasoil saw some strength with Jordan Petroleum entering themarket to seek 500,000 tonnes for delivery over three monthsfrom December.
If more Vietnamese importers enter the market to seek spotcargoes, this could quickly push up margins for gasoil, a tradersaid.
Still, demand elsewhere remained weak. The Philippinesexported a rare diesel cargo to Singapore in the week to Oct.10, IE data showed.
The country is usually a net diesel importer. Royal DutchShell could likely have been transferring the diesel cargowithin its system or bringing it into Singapore storage tanks, asecond trader said.
India's Essar Oil has yet to offer diesel cargoes forNovember loading, but is expected to offer at least two cargoes,as Indian diesel demand continues to remain weak on a delayedmonsoon season.
* TENDERS: Jordan Petroleum Refinery is seeking about500,000 tonnes of 0.5 percent sulphur gasoil for delivery overDecember 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. 2-6loading from BP at a premium of 10 cents a barrel above theaverage of Oct. 11-17 Singapore quotes.
- Shell sold 100,000 barrels of jet fuel for Oct. 26-30loading to Unipec at a premium of $1.15 a barrel above theaverage of Oct. 25-Nov. 1 Singapore quotes.
- Shell sold 150,000 barrels of 0.5 percent sulphur gasoilfor Oct. 26-30 loading to Vitol at a premium of 50 cents abarrel above Singapore quotes.
MID-DISTILLATESCASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RICCloseSpot Gas Oil 0.5% 131.08 1.09 0.84 129.99GO 0.5 Diff 0.58 0.00 0.00 0.58Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 132.51 1.11 0.84 131.40GO 0.25 Diff 2.00 0.00 0.00 2.00Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 133.30 1.05 0.79 132.25GO 0.05 Diff 2.79 -0.11 -3.79 2.90Spot Gas Oil 134.89 1.14 0.85 133.750.001%GO 0.001 Diff 4.38 0.03 0.69 4.35Spot Jet/Kero 134.15 1.42 1.07 132.73Jet/Kero Diff 1.01 0.06 6.32 0.95SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev PM (1130 GMT)(0830 GMT) CloseBrent M1 115.14 0.65 0.57 114.49Gasoil M1 130.79 0.67 0.51 130.12Gasoil M1/M2 0.57 0.02 3.64 0.55Gasoil M2 130.22 0.65 0.50 129.57Regrade M1 3.01 0.24 8.66 2.77Regrade M2 2.27 0.34 17.62 1.93Jet M1 133.80 0.91 0.68 132.89Jet M1/M2 1.31 -0.08 -5.76 1.39Jet M2 132.49 0.99 0.75 131.50Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 19.48 -0.19 -0.97 19.67Cracks M1Gasoil 0.5%-Dubai 19.53 -0.18 -0.91 19.71Cracks M2Jet Cracks M1 21.75 0.15 0.69 21.60Jet Cracks M2 21.48 0.14 0.66 21.34East-West M1 -52.37 -8.01 18.06 -44.36East-West M2 -37.49 -3.66 10.82 -33.83LGO M1 1026.75 13.00 1.28 1013.75LGO M1/M2 19.12 4.50 30.78 14.62LGO M2 1007.63 8.50 0.85 999.13Crack LGO-Brent M1 20.11 0.49 2.50 19.62Crack 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)(ReutersMessaging: jessica.jaganathan.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS DISTILLATES/ASIA