Gasoil cash differentials dip on selling interest

SINGAPORE: Asia’s spot cash differentials for gasoil declined on Tuesday as selling interest persisted. The 10 ppm sulphur gasoil cash differential fell to $1.24 a barrel amid competitive offers for the first half of March. Refining margins for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil were at $25.25 per barrel, supported by a slide in crude oil prices.

Jet fuel refining margins also edged higher from the previous day, at $23.40 per barrel.The regrade spread widened further to a discount of $1.85 per barrel.

China’s mega refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), the country’s only private refiner with refined fuel export quotas, on Sunday loaded its first cargo of aviation fuel for export, the east China-based firm said on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the US government said it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as mandated by lawmakers, defying expectations from some traders that the release could be cancelled or delayed.

The Biden administration said it is selling 26 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a release that had been mandated by Congress in previous years. Ukraine has started importing US-made diesel fuel almost a year after Russia’s invasion, local specialised news agency Enkorr said.