Asian jet cracks slip as global passenger growth stalls

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Refining margins for jet fuel in Asia slipped for the second successive day on Monday as a key research agency warned that the number of passengers boarding aircraft has fallen.

Jet cracks for June swaps versus August cash Brent on a FOB Singapore basis fell to $3.95/b on Monday, down $0.14/b on the day and $0.40/b lower than the high reached on Thursday.

The easing of jet cracks comes after researchers OAG said passenger numbers fell 238,000 last week compared to the previous week.

"A 0.4% reduction is nothing, but we should be seeing growth week-on-week at the moment," said John Grant in a blog post.

The decline comes despite the seven-day average of US and European passengers rising, according to European and US government agencies.

Covid 19 infections in Asia outside of China and India are starting to creep higher but that growth is starting to slow despite Indonesia reporting a new cluster of infections after the docking of a cargo ship over the weekend.

However, there are still more than 220,000 new daily infections in India despite regional lockdowns and travel restrictions in place across much of the region.

The relative fall in jet kero prices leaves the spread between jet and diesel cracks at an eight-week of $2.50/b high, according to Quantum data, with the 10ppm premium reflecting strength in 10ppm diesel cracks.