Oil Products End of Day Summary: Gasoline Cracks At 5-Month High

Gasoline cracks are set for their highest close since mid-September following a large US stock draw last week amid rising demand. Meanwhile, increasing distillate demand and falling stocks have pushed diesel cracks to a near three-month high.

• US gasoline crack up 1.5$/bbl at 21.18$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 1.8$/bbl at 44.15$/bbl
• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Feb 02: Gasoline stocks -3,146 vs Exp +836, Implied mogas demand +663, Distillate stocks -3,221 vs Exp -2,147, Implied dist demand +60
• Planned maintenance at Chinese state refiners is set to be 18% higher this year at a total of 157m tons/yr, according to OilChem. The work will mostly take place in 2Q and 4Q.
• Shandong teapot refiners have opted to pull feedstock from commercial storages near their facilities rather than target seaborne volumes – a trend growing since mid-December.
• Distillate margins and refined product volatility are too low due to structural tightness in the refining market and refined products exposure to potential Red Sea disruptions according to Goldman Sachs.
• Retail gasoline prices in Russia rose by just 0.01% in the week to Feb. 5 to 54.64 rubles/l, according to Rosstat.
• Recent strength in ICE gasoil cracks and spreads is underpinned by a “prevailing bullish sentiment across Europe and the wider Atlantic Basin,” according to a note from Sparta Commodities.
• Red Sea disruption has led to a flow of westward ballasters into the Atlantic from the Persian Gulf, driving down Suezmax freight rates loading in WAF, Platts said.