Thu 5 Apr 2018, 08:33 GMT

Oil and fuel oil hedging market update


By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services.



Commentary

Brent closed last night at $68.02 down $0.10, WTI closed at $63.37, down $0.14 and INE closed at Y402.30 per bbl or $63.85. Sometimes numbers are easy to put into perspective. For example: 180, the number of minutes Arsenal's solid defence haven't let a Premier League goal in. 31, the number of minutes it took Liverpool to spank Man City last night. 5, the number of minutes it took me to demolish an Easter egg last weekend. See, easy. But when someone puts a billion at the end of any number it all goes a little bit skewed. Bahrain announced Monday they had found 80 billon bbls of shale oil and 14 trillion cubic feet of gas. I'm sure many people can't quite fathom those kinds of numbers, but one thing I can say is that it's a lot. A lot, a lot. ExxonMobil has increased the size of its Permian resource from less than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalents (Bboe) to 9.5 Bboe. Iraq have said they are going to increase their oil production to 6.5mnbpd from current production of 4.6mnbpd. With these kinds of predictions, the market seems unsure of what to do. With all this production coming into the market, some will be taken out by need to increase due to depletion of current wells. I know demand generally is apparently inching higher, but I wouldn't put the term "inching" against the supply outlook. A definite long-term concern for suppliers. Driving season in the US isn't that far away and I think it is going to prove crucial for the market as a real tangible indicator if demand is actually there.

Fuel Oil Market (April 4)

The front crack opened at -11.85, strengthening to -11.20, before weakening to -11.55. The Cal 19 was valued at -14.50.

Asia's prompt-month viscosity spread extended gains for a sixth consecutive session to a near three-year high on Wednesday after almost three weeks of steady gains. Concerns of tight blendstock supplies over the coming month have helped boost the low-viscosity fuel oil market in recent weeks.

Fujairah fuel oil inventories slipped 1.4 percent to a fourweek low of 7.049 million barrels (about 1.052 million tonnes) in the week to April 2.

Total fuel oil flows into East Asia for April is expected to close under last month's 13-month high of 6.9-7.0 million tonnes, on lower arrivals from all three supply regions - the West, the Middle East and Asia - assessments by Thomson Reuters Oil Research showed on Tuesday.

Economic Data and Events

* 1:30pm: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims for March est. 225k (prior 215k)

* Census Bureau releases U.S. crude exports for February

* Singapore onshore oil-product stockpile data

* Russian refining maintenance schedule from ministry

Singapore 380 cSt

May18 - 369.25 / 371.25

Jun18 - 368.75 / 370.75

Jul18 - 367.50 / 369.50

Aug18 - 366.00 / 368.00

Sep18 - 364.25 / 366.25

Oct18 - 362.25 / 364.25

Q3-18 - 366.00 / 368.00

Q4-18 - 360.25 / 362.25

Q1-19 - 353.25 / 355.75

Q2-19 - 346.50 / 349.50

CAL19 - 325.75 / 330.75

CAL20 - 266.00 / 274.00

Singapore 180 cSt

May18 - 378.75 / 380.75

Jun18 - 378.00 / 380.00

Jul18 - 376.50 / 378.50

Aug18 - 375.00 / 377.00

Sep18 - 373.25 / 375.25

Oct18 - 371.25 / 373.25

Q3-18 - 375.00 / 377.00

Q4-18 - 369.50 / 371.50

Q1-19 - 362.75 / 365.25

Q2-19 -357.25 / 360.25

CAL19 - 339.75 / 344.75

CAL20 - 290.25 / 298.25

Rotterdam Barges

May18 357.00 / 359.00

Jun18 356.50 / 358.50

Jul18 355.00 / 357.00

Aug18 353.00 / 355.00

Sep18 350.25 / 352.25

Oct18 - 347.25 / 349.25

Q3-18 352.75 / 354.75

Q4-18 343.75 / 345.75

Q1-19 336.75 / 339.25

Q2-18 328.25 / 331.25

CAL19 307.00 / 312.00

CAL20 257.50 / 265.50


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The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation presented pilot findings on biofuels and energy efficiency financing.

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Truck-to-ship LNG operation at Hakodate marks first such supply to an international cruise vessel in Hokkaido.

Acta Gemini vessel. Acta Marine takes delivery of methanol dual-fuel CSOV Acta Gemini for RWE wind farm charter  

The vessel will support operations at the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm at Dogger Bank.

Yeva Wood and Kirsten Møller Jørgensen. Malik Supply expands Danish team with bunker trader and finance hire  

Danish bunker supplier Malik Supply adds two new staff across its Fredericia and Aalborg offices.

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South Korean shipbuilder HJ Shipbuilding & Construction receives classification society approval for its biofuel vessel design at Posidonia.

Active vessel. Capital Clean Energy Carriers takes delivery of LNG carrier and dual-fuel gas carrier, secures five new charters  

Athens-based CCEC expands its fleet and pushes contracted revenue backlog to $3.1bn.

VPS logo. Fuel quality management for vessels in extended idle: Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and adjacent anchorages | Rahul Choudhuri, VPS  

Managing fuel quality deterioration following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Person signing a document. Agastya Green Fuels signs 250,000 t/yr e-methanol offtake deal with Sri Lanka’s SAR Group  

Indian producer and Sri Lankan maritime firm agree long-term green methanol supply partnership.