Tue 7 Nov 2017, 08:50 GMT

Oil and fuel oil hedging market update


By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services.



Brent closed up $2.20 last night to $64.27 and WTI closed at $57.35, up $1.71. Crude is up as you can see. Quite a rally we witnessed last night. One minute I had a mouthful of Spaghetti Bolognese, the next minute crude was up 2 bucks. Why? To be honest, I think a lot of people are sitting there scratching their heads this morning. All I know is that this market is a fickle one and let's remember, elephants never forget. The bears are there in the background and they have long memories too. However, even elephants mess up sometimes and it seems as if the days of "lower for longer" are over. Yeah right. The market seems to be buying into the events that are happening in Saudi Arabia and the new regime that may follow, which apparently means that this is bullish for the oil sector. Nigeria have gladly followed this up with "of course we will support an extension". I bet you will, mate, considering you're exempt from any production cuts and are just benefiting from higher flat price. I think the market seems to be missing something so obvious, however. The kind of obvious like when you meet someone for the first time and they've got a really big spot on their forehead and you can't stop staring at it lest you try. Higher crude prices inevitably means higher product prices. I have written about refining margins being at record highs this year and these same margins have not adjusted down with higher crude prices. The market is all about "demand getting stronger", well I'll tell you something: Brent has rallied close to 40% in a year. That is 40% more to fill up your car with VW's favourite diesel or some super-high-octane gasoline for your pickup truck or for Micheal O'Leary to charge you a new "jet fuel tax" for your summer holiday next year.. With prices up, demand will surely wane - and round we go again.

Fuel Oil Market (November 6)

The front crack opened at -7.85, strengthening to -7.70, before weakening to -7.90. The Cal 18 was valued at -7.65.

The discount of Asia's fuel oil crack to crude oil widened slightly but was still "strong" in spite of crude oil prices rising to their highest since July 2015. The front-month 180-cst fuel oil crack to Brent crude widened its discount by 8 cents a barrel to minus $3.69 a barrel, holding near its five-week high of minus $3.55 a barrel seen on Nov. 2.

Fuel oil cracks rose to a near five-week high on expectations of tightening fuel oil supplies into 2018 amid shrinking output and fewer arbitrage bookings into Asia, as well as firm demand for the industrial fuel. Meanwhile, the front-month 180-cst fuel oil crack to Dubai crude widened its discount further from a near sixweek high seen on Wednesday as rising inventories in key storage hubs weighed. Fuel oil stocks in ARA oil hub rose for a second straight week, up 2%, or 22,000 tonnes, to 1.356 million tonnes in the week to Nov. 2. Compared to last year, ARA inventories are up 137% and are well above the five-year average of 851,000 tonnes for this time of year.

Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp plans to shut a crude oil unit and several secondary units for maintenance at its 540,000 bpd Mailiao refinery in 2018.

Economic Data/Events: (UK times)

* 12pm: U.S. MBA mortgage applications for week ended Nov. 3 (prior -2.6%)

* 1:30pm: OPEC's World Oil Outlook to be published, with press conference by Secretary-general Mohammad Barkindo, Vienna

** Bloomberg-compiled refinery snapshot, looking at key outages at refineries in the U.S. and Canada, and providing offline capacity projections for crude units and FCCs

** Platts gasoline, naphtha and LPG conference, Rotterdam, final day

** EIA releases Short Term Energy Outlook

Singapore 380 cSt

Dec17 - 376.00 / 378.00

Jan18 - 373.50 / 375.50

Feb18 - 371.25 / 373.25

Mar18 - 369.50 / 371.50

Apr18 - 367.75 / 369.75

May18 - 366.00 / 368.00

Q1-18 - 371.50 / 373.50

Q2-18 - 366.00 / 368.00

Q3-18 - 360.00 / 362.50

Q4-18 - 354.00 / 356.50

CAL18 - 361.50 / 364.50

CAL19 - 321.50 / 326.50

Singapore 180 cSt

Dec17 - 380.75 / 382.75

Jan18 - 379.00 / 381.00

Feb18 - 376.75 / 378.75

Mar18 - 375.50 / 377.505

Apr18 - 374.25 / 376.25

May18 - 372.75 / 374.75

Q1-18 - 377.25 / 379.25

Q2-18 - 372.50 / 374.50

Q3-18 - 366.50 / 369.00

Q4-18 - 361.50 / 364.00

CAL18 - 368.00 / 371.00

CAL19 - 330.25 / 335.25

Rotterdam 380 cSt

Dec17 355.50 / 357.50

Jan18 353.50 / 355.50

Feb18 352.50 / 354.50

Mar18 351.50 / 353.50

Apr18 350.50 / 352.50

May18 349.25 / 351.25

Q1-18 352.50 / 354.50

Q2-18 349.25 / 351.25

Q3-18 343.50 / 346.00

Q4-18 334.75 / 337.25

CAL18 343.75 / 346.75

CAL19 301.75 / 306.75

BP  

Closing ceremony of vessel with builder’s hull no. 0315874. LNG dual-fuel crude tanker handed over to Capital  

Jiangsu New Times Shipbuilding delivers the 155,500-DWT LNG dual-fuel crude oil vessel Amor.

Lowina Lundstrom, Gasum. Gasum names Lowina Lundström as vice president, biogas  

Former EIT InnoEnergy executive joins Gasum's management team to lead biogas business development from 1 December.

PIL and Huanghai Shipbuilding contract signing. PIL orders seven methanol-ready feeder vessels from Huanghai Shipbuilding  

Singapore carrier's 1,400-TEU newbuilds will boost intra-Asia capacity and support its 2050 net zero target.

MPA and Qingdao Port work plan signing ceremony. Singapore and Qingdao sign work plan to advance green and digital shipping corridors  

MPA and Shandong Port Group’s Qingdao Port have agreed to pursue methanol bunkering pilots and data-sharing initiatives between the two ports.

Delfin Midstream FLNG unit render. Wärtsilä to supply dual-fuel engines and thrusters for Delfin Midstream's FLNG vessel  

Finnish technology group lands propulsion order for first floating LNG vessel built for US Gulf export project.

Uni-Fuels Logo. Uni-Fuels advertises for senior bunker trader in Dubai  

Nasdaq-listed firm recruiting for its trading team as it aims to drive growth.

Mineral Europa vessel. Green ammonia bunkered to ammonia-powered bulk carrier in Australian first  

Pilbara Ports, Fortescue and CMB.Tech complete a ship-to-ship ammonia transfer at Port Hedland, supporting plans for a clean fuel bunkering hub in the region.

Sea Change II vessel render. US Coast Guard agrees design framework for hydrogen-fuelled New York ferry  

Switch Maritime and Incat Crowther reach regulatory agreement for a 150-passenger hydrogen fuel cell-electric fast ferry intended for New York's waterways.

Auto Advance vessel. UECC fits WE Tech hybrid power systems on newbuild ro-ro vessels  

Norwegian short-sea operator says battery and shaft generator technology from WE Tech Solutions has cut fuel use and auxiliary engine reliance on three newbuilds.

Terra Clove vessel. Envision's green ammonia used to bunker world's first VLAC  

Chinese energy group supplies vessel owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping as it links production and marine fuel supply chains.