Dubai crude closes month on a cautious note, gasoline cracks rise again
London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Middle East crude oil prices continued to edge higher Friday, broadly taking the lead from western benchmarks. The June trading cycle ended on a cautious note as falling demand from India looms over the market.
Dubai cash for June delivery was assessed at $65.25/b on April 30 (1630 Singapore time), up $0.20/b from Thursday's Singapore close, while the June/July spread was pegged at +$0.05/b. Quantum's June monthly average for Dubai was $62.90/b, around $1.50/b down from the May average.
DME Oman futures for June settled at $65.22/b at the Asian close, up $0.26/b on the day. The month average was $63.10/b, versus $64.43/b the previous month.
A number of Middle East National Oil Companies (NOCs) use a 50:50 Dubai/Oman pricing formula for calculating monthly Official Selling Prices.
Cash Brent (BFOE) for June was assessed at $68.30/b, up $0.57/b versus Thursday's Singapore close.
Products
Gasoline cracks ended the month on a downbeat note with Q2 cracks marked at $6.20/b, according to Quantum data, around 10% down on the month.
Friday saw a handful of physical trades indicating slightly firmer demand for spot tonnes, but the market remains in backwardation, albeit a far less steep one than at the start of the month.
Naphtha cracks were at a near five-week high, no deals were heard.
Month ahead jet kero cracks rose from $1/b to $3.32/b over the course of the month as greater optimism about air travel in Europe and the US outweighted pessimism about the state of play in India and Japan.
Like jet, diesel cracks were up $0.80/b over the course of the month, with month ahead cracks versus July cash Brent marked at $4.74/b.
Cash differentials were seen firming for 10ppm and the M1-M2 spread narrowed from -$0.57 at the start of the month to -$0.50 by the end.
Marine fuel oil cracks rebounded Friday and were up 20% on the month versus cash Dubai. No deals were heard and the market remains in a moderate contango. Higher sulfur fuel oil cracks lost ground with deals indicating weaker cash differentials of flat to underlying swaps versus $0.50/mt a day earlier.