Gasoline: Gasoline prices go up on tight supply

　The differential for gasoline on an FOB Northeast Asia basis went up as thin supply was not eased. With only few cargoes seen in the market, buyers were willing to secure volumes and their buying interest became strong. In addition, supply from the Middle East was also getting tight due to turnaround of refineries, and procurements of cargoes from Asia were increasing. In Japan, ENEOS moved on sales of an MR-size cargo each of 92RON and 95RON gasoline loading from Kashima and Mizushima refinery. PetroChina sold an MR-size cargo each of 95RON and 92RON gasoline from Mizushima and Chiba in Japan. In South Korea, SK Energy sold an MR-size cargo of 90RON gasoline loading in late November at a discount in the high $1's/bbl to the quotations on an FOB basis. In Taiwan, two refiners had resumed the residue fluid catalytic cracker at their refiner and both seemed to have some spot availability for November cargoes.

Naphtha: One Korea petchem company buys 1h Dec cargo

The first half December open-spec naphtha prices unchanged. As naphtha prices remained high and olefins markets were weak, profitability of producing olefins continued to be poor. Some petrochemical companies were head to consider to cut the operation rates of naphtha crackers in November in Northeast Asia. It was also pointed out that olefins market sentiment would probably soften when supply capacity increased after new naphtha crackers started operations.

In this situation, YNCC in South Korea procured one 25,000mt cargo for delivery in the first half December via a tender. Hanwha TotalEnergies also bought one 25,000mt cargo of heavy full range naphtha C grade for delivery in the same period.

Middle distillates: Jet spot prices extend gains on tight fundamentals

The differential for MR-size cargoes of jet fuel on an FOB Northeast Asia basis went up. The market was rapidly increasing due to extremely poor selling interest. No sales for cargoes loading in November surfaced from China. Refiners in South Korea were also focusing on term supply or were adjusting their operations of refineries, so that their spot availability was quite weak. On the other hand, the arbitrage window to the US West Coast remained open and inquiries for cargoes to the region were strong. For the market of sustainable aviation fuel, it was informed that prices for Neat SAF were at $200/mt or higher. As prices for used cooking oil (UCO) as a raw material of SAF shot up, cost cuts for Neat SAF looked hard. On the other hand, procurements of SAF by airlines did not extend, it was pointed out that the prices had already hit the ceiling. Supply/demand fundamentals strengthened ahead of the winter kerosene demand season. Also, the arbitrage window from Asia to Europe and the U.S. West Coast slightly widened, which was perceived to be a bullish factor.

The differential for MR-size cargoes of 0.001% sulfur gasoil on an FOB Northeast Asia basis were stable, but strong buying interest was slightly eased as sales from China were expected to gain momentum going forward. However, refiners in China were likely to be exporting more jet fuel due to its favorable margins amid short export quotas this year. Thus, exports of gasoil seemed to be few. On Wednesday, in Northeast Asia, Formosa Petrochemicals Co (FPCC) in Taiwan sold 750,000bbl of 0.001% sulfur gasoil loading on Nov 25-29 via a tender.

Fuel oil: HSFO market proves firm tone

The differential for MR-size cargoes of 0.5% sulfur fuel oil (0.5%S) on an FOB South Korea basis was firm tone. South Korean Oil companies in the country recently preferred the bunker fuel market, where prices remained solid in order to ship high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO), according to a market participant. In Japan, Cosmo Oil and Fuji Oil dealt spot cargoes. Those two firms were likely to have moved on a sale of the cargo with technical troubles of secondary units at their refineries.