Oil Products End of Day Summary: Cracks Rise on the Day

Gasoline and distillate cracks continued to make gains during US hours, bucking the general downtrend across H2 Feb. The latest weekly EIA oil data showed an increase in US gasoline implied demand but a drop in distillates implied demand, albeit both in line with seasonal trends.

• US gasoline crack up 1.5$/bbl at 29.89$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 1.3$/bbl at 33.05$/bbl
• ARA stocks, according to Insights Global. Inventory type, latest level, weekly change (all in thousand metric tons) as follows: Gasoline: 1,177, -28, Naphtha: 460, +95, Gasoil: 2,058, +132, Fuel Oil: 1,491, +19, Jet Fuel: 709, -18
• Jet fuel demand rose to 1.67m b/d in December, around 5% higher than the EIA had estimated in its weekly reports, according to Bloomberg. Gasoline demand was revised up by 2% to 8.84m b/d compared to 8.64m b/d in weekly estimates.
• Russia is planning to lift the ban on winter-grade diesel exports from 22 March due to seasonally lower demand.
• China’s refining capacity is expected to rise by 2.7% y/y in 2024 to 961mn mt/year or 19.3mn bpd according to ETRI.
• Russian crude loadings from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk stood at 2.02mbpd in February, mostly Urals grade.
• Kuwait’s fuel oil exports rose for a second consecutive month in February, helped by Al Zour’s ramp up to full capacity.
• Asian naphtha premiums to NWE have fallen to their lowest level since Dec. 5.
• European jet fuel imports from the Middle East have slipped in Feb.