Refining operations recover as expected
Crude prices were boosted by better growth expectations, embodied by soaring equity markets and hiking bond yields, with the February ICE Brent contract trading above…
ICE Brent crude price topped 86 $/b before this weekend, with Asian gasoil prices reaching 100 $/b at the prompt, due to a continued rally in diesel and jet cracks. Singapore inventories continued to show depleting diesel stockpiles (-1 mb last week, close to pre-GFC lows), as China exports at a subdued level (below 200 kb/d). Still, in India, Gasoil demand appeared to be declining for the first 15 days of January, at 1.2 mb/d. Indeed, with the resurgence of COVID, trucking activity declined by 10% pts from December to 75%.
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