Gasoline: Non-oxy grade mogas prices fall in ample supply

The differential for MR-size cargos of 93RON gasoline on an FOB Taiwan basis and that of 92RON gasoline on an FOB Japan basis went down. Increasing supply pushed down the differentials. With freight rates staying high, export costs to send cargoes to regions outside Asia were not profitable. Meanwhile, market players perceived that procuring cargoes for Europe were risky and cargoes from the Middle East and India were flowing into Asia and supply remained ample. In the spot market.

Naphtha: Markets still lack strength on recovering supply

Open-spec naphtha prices on a CFR Japan basis were at a premium of $13.00-14.00/mt to Japan quotations to be assessed 30 days before delivery. The prices for the first half April cargoes were capped. In the Middle East, the winter maintenance season of refineries were going to end and supply for cargoes for delivery in Northeast Asia in April was gradually recovering. In the spot market, Japan's one petrochemical company bought 25,000mt of open-spec naphtha for delivery in the first half April at a premium slightly above $10.00/mt to the quotations on a CFR basis via a tender.

The prices for bio-naphtha on a CFR Japan basis were 3-4 times higher than usual naphtha. A market participant pointed out that it was hard to feed bio-naphtha due to low profit and there was no legislation in place in Japan.

Middle distillates: Jet fuel declines as inquiries for AG and US retreat

The differentials for MR-size cargoes of jet fuel on an FOB Northeast Asia went down on slack supply/demand fundamentals. In South Korea, a refiner sold 300,000bbl loading on Mar 26-28 at a discount of around $1.60/bbl to the quotations on an FOB basis via a tender. Buying interest from Australia and the U.S decreased as procurements for cargoes from those countries had finished. On the supply side, Chinese refiners were promoting sales, so that fundamentals were pointed out to be slack. In the meantime, it was hard to charter MR-size vessels and trades on an FOB basis were slowing down.

A Spain-based Oil company Cepsa is constructing the second-generation biofuel plant that is expected to produce 500,000mt of the fuels per year with Bio-Oils Co, a subsidiary of a major biomass fuel oil supplier Apical. They are scheduled to start operations of the plant in 2026. The plant is expected to mainly refine sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and bio-diesel. The production capacity of the two fuels by the two companies will double when the operations start.

The differential for MR-size cargoes of 0.05% sulfur gasoil on an FOB Northeast Asia softened. One South Korean refiner sold an MR-size cargo of 0.05% sulfur gasoil for Mar 29-31 loading at a discount of $4.10/bbl to the Singapore quotations on an FOB basis. The buyer was not clear. Discounts for South Korean loading high-sulfur gasoil had been on a decline. Inquiries from Southeast Asia were calming down. In addition, refining and sales volumes by oil companies in South Korea appeared to be ramping up in March due to higher market prices for high-sulfur gasoil following strong February.

Fuel oil: Sense of ample supply of HSFO persists in Asia

The differential for MR-size cargoes of 3.5% sulfur fuel oil (380cst) on an FOB South Korea basis was unchanged. No fresh discussions on high sulfur fuel oil cargoes from South Korea were reported. However, market sentiment remained weak on slack supply/demand fundamentals. A market source mentioned that more cargoes were possibly going to flow into Asia from the Middle East such as Kuwait going forward. On the other hand, movements to look for high sulfur fuel oil as bunker fuel were limited. Thus, a sense of ample supply was not eased in Asia especially in Singapore.