Oil Products Summary at European Close: Diesel Cracks Edge Up

Diesel cracks have reversed earlier losses to be up on the day but remain set for weekly losses of 3.4%. Demand uncertainty and signs of recovering US refinery utilisation have added pressure.

• US ULSD crack up 0.1$/bbl at 33.28$/bbl
• US gasoline crack down -0.1$/bbl at 29.92$/bbl
• Phillips 66 Sweeny refinery Texas, will restart unit 35 (a CRR reformer) from Friday after planned maintenance according to a Texas Commission filing.
• Russian diesel exports from key western ports are expected to fall by 11% in March from February amid lower crude processing rates due to drone attacks on refineries.
• The March oil products loading schedule from Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse is expected to increase by 21.4% m/m in March to 540k metric tons from 416k metric tons scheduled for February according to Reuters sources.
• Nigeria’s recently operational Dangote refinery is due to receive the Gem no. 1 supertanker on Sunday carrying WTI Midland crude according to Bloomberg vessel tracking.
• Pemex domestic refineries increased utilisation rates to the highest since May 2017, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg.
• China gasoline demand is forecast to slip in March according to OilChem, likely to weigh on prices.
• Global passenger jet fuel demand is set to rise from 6.3m b/d in March to 6.9m b/d in May, amid a build-up to the peak summer travel season, according to BNEF.
• US REFINERY MAINTENANCE SCHEDUL: See PDF for the latest refinery maintenance update for the US: https://enews.marketnews.com/ct/x/pjJscQeNxr4I6a9vIk9xHQ~k1zZ8KXr-kA8x6nAX8f2ptIPjO1OcQ