Latest news with #fueldemand
Zawya
4 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Oil rises as US-EU deal lifts trade optimism
SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose on Monday after the U.S. reached a trade deal with the European Union and may extend a tariff pause with China, reducing concerns that potentially higher levies would limit economic activity and impact fuel demand. Brent crude futures inched up 22 cents, or 0.32%, to $68.66 a barrel by 0035 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $65.38 a barrel, up 22 cents, or 0.34%. The U.S.-European Union trade deal and a possible extension in U.S.-China tariff pause are supporting global financial markets and oil prices, IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said. The United States and the European Union struck a framework trade agreement on Sunday that will impose a 15% import tariff on most EU goods, half the threatened rate. The deal averted a bigger trade war between two allies that account for almost one-third of global trade and could crimp fuel demand. Also, senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet in Stockholm on Monday aiming to extend a truce keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay ahead of the August 12 deadline. Oil prices settled on Friday at their lowest in three weeks as global trade concerns and expectations of more oil supply from Venezuela weighed. Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is getting ready to resume work at its joint ventures under terms similar to Biden-era licenses, once U.S. President Donald Trump reinstates authorisations for its partners to operate and export oil under swaps, company sources said. Though prices were up slightly on Monday, the prospect of OPEC+ further easing supply curbs limited the gains. A market monitoring panel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies is set to meet at 1200 GMT on Monday. It is unlikely to recommend altering existing plans by eight members to raise oil output by 548,000 barrels per day in August, four OPEC+ delegates said last week. Another source said it was too early to say. The producer group is keen to recover market share while summer demand is helping to absorb the extra barrels. JP Morgan analysts said global oil demand rose by 600,000 bpd in July on year, while global oil stocks rose 1.6 million bpd. In the Middle East, Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they would target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities, as part of what they called the fourth phase of their military operations against Israel over the Gaza conflict. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oil rises as US-EU deal lifts trade optimism
By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Monday after the U.S. reached a trade deal with the European Union and may extend a tariff pause with China, reducing concerns that potentially higher levies would limit economic activity and impact fuel demand. Brent crude futures inched up 22 cents, or 0.32%, to $68.66 a barrel by 0035 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $65.38 a barrel, up 22 cents, or 0.34%. The U.S.-European Union trade deal and a possible extension in U.S.-China tariff pause are supporting global financial markets and oil prices, IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said. The United States and the European Union struck a framework trade agreement on Sunday that will impose a 15% import tariff on most EU goods, half the threatened rate. The deal averted a bigger trade war between two allies that account for almost one-third of global trade and could crimp fuel demand. Also, senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet in Stockholm on Monday aiming to extend a truce keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay ahead of the August 12 deadline. Oil prices settled on Friday at their lowest in three weeks as global trade concerns and expectations of more oil supply from Venezuela weighed. Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is getting ready to resume work at its joint ventures under terms similar to Biden-era licenses, once U.S. President Donald Trump reinstates authorisations for its partners to operate and export oil under swaps, company sources said. Though prices were up slightly on Monday, the prospect of OPEC+ further easing supply curbs limited the gains. A market monitoring panel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies is set to meet at 1200 GMT on Monday. It is unlikely to recommend altering existing plans by eight members to raise oil output by 548,000 barrels per day in August, four OPEC+ delegates said last week. Another source said it was too early to say. The producer group is keen to recover market share while summer demand is helping to absorb the extra barrels. JP Morgan analysts said global oil demand rose by 600,000 bpd in July on year, while global oil stocks rose 1.6 million bpd. In the Middle East, Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they would target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities, as part of what they called the fourth phase of their military operations against Israel over the Gaza conflict.
Reuters
15-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China state refiners ramp up output on rising demand, stock rebuild
SINGAPORE, July 15 (Reuters) - Chinese state-owned refiners are ramping up output after completing maintenance to meet higher third-quarter fuel demand and to rebuild diesel and gasoline stocks which are at multi-year lows, traders and analysts said. The increase in crude processing rates, expected to last through the third quarter, will drive up imports by the world's largest oil importer, although slowing gasoline and diesel consumption is expected to keep a lid on overall demand. Operating rates at state refineries surpassed 80% in the last week of June, up from about 73% a month earlier, the highest for the period in five years, data from consultancy Oilchem showed, as several Sinopec ( opens new tab refineries returned to operation from maintenance in the second quarter. China's overall refining throughput was 15.15 million barrels per day in June, the highest since September 2023, according to Reuters calculations based on official data released on Tuesday. The sharp ramp-up in state refinery operations was driven by low product stocks after two months of heavy maintenance in April and May that supported product profit margins, said Ye Lin, a vice president at Rystad Energy. "Demand for jet fuel and petrochemical feedstocks is growing healthily in China, driving more supply from the state-owned refineries," she added. Refined products output from state refiners Sinopec, PetroChina ( opens new tab, CNOOC ( opens new tab and Sinochem will exceed 10 million bpd in July, 100,000-110,000 bpd higher than June, according to consultancies FGE and JLC. FGE expects their output to hit 10.4 million bpd in July and August. JPMorgan analysts forecast China's refinery runs to increase year-on-year for the third and fourth quarters, following consecutive annual declines in the previous five quarters. Rising state refinery output pushed up diesel and gasoline stocks in the first two weeks of July, but at 14 million and 11 million metric tons, respectively, inventories are at six-year lows, Oilchem data showed. Official data showed China's January-May diesel and gasoline production fell 7% annually. That is partly because independent refineries, known as teapots, have been operating at just 40% to 50% of their capacity this year due to poor margins, and as U.S. sanctions made it harder for some to buy cheap Iranian oil, industry sources said. China's oil demand will rise seasonally into September but will be restrained by the country's prolonged property sector downturn, trade tariffs and rising sales of electric cars and trucks, the sources and analysts said. Barclays estimates that China's oil demand grew about 330,000 bpd year-on-year in the first half this year, while full-year growth will ease to 150,000 bpd. For July, China's gasoline consumption has firmed due to the summer travel season, but diesel demand remains weak as extreme weather, such as heatwaves and floods, has delayed construction projects in some regions, sources and analysts said. Rystad's Ye expects teapots to increase runs in August to meet higher fuel demand in September. Diesel and gasoline make up more than 40% of China's oil demand.
Reuters
15-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Weak bunker margins prompt Singapore suppliers to curb fleets, sources say
SINGAPORE, July 15 (Reuters) - Lacklustre fuel demand at top global ship refuelling hub Singapore is squeezing margins for bunker suppliers and prompting some to pare back barge operations, industry sources said. Marine fuel sales in key refuelling ports globally have slowed this year as the shipping sector grapples with uncertainty over geopolitics and trade tariffs, depressing bunker prices and making it less economical to operate fuel barges. Typically, bunker fuel delivered from barges in Singapore must be sold at least $7 a metric ton above the ex-wharf price for oil supplied from terminals to break even, however, the spread has narrowed below $4 this year for both low-sulphur and high-sulphur marine fuel grades, trade sources said. TFG Marine, majority-owned by Trafigura, is operating three to five barges in Singapore compared with nine barges last year, according to five industry sources. The company is focusing on ex-wharf trade instead of direct delivery to ships, they said. Trafigura declined to comment. Prices of high-sulphur marine fuel have been depressed by plentiful supplies, while premiums for low-sulphur supplies have been stuck in a narrow range since the start of the year. "It has been an extended period of pain for physical suppliers this year," a Singapore-based bunker trading executive said. "Suppliers can't stop doing physical sales completely so the short-term remedy is to release barges," he said. Sinopec Fuel Oil, which operates about 10 barges in Singapore, has trimmed vessels leased under contract of affreightment (COA) to 1-2 per month, down from 2-3 previously, as volumes dipped, while keeping the number of barges under time charter (TC) stable, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Under COA, shipowners retain control over vessels and are committed to delivering a certain number of cargoes, while TCs give charters the control over ships. Separately, SK Energy plans to reduce its Singapore barge fleet later this year, two sources familiar with the matter said. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media. Sinopec did not respond to a request for comment. SK Energy declined to comment. The scaling back comes as the number of barges, or bunker tankers, in Singapore rose to 214 in February, up from 206 last May, official data showed. "The total number of barges has increased this year with some companies bringing in newly-built ones ... but demand is so stagnant this year, premiums are so bad, that many people are giving up barges," a trader from a Singapore-based bunker supplier said. Bunker fuel sales in Singapore dipped to 26.98 million metric tons (940,000 barrels per day) in the first half of 2025, down 1% on year, official data showed.
Reuters
26-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Indian refiners' May crude processing edges up 0.4% from a year earlier
June 26 (Reuters) - Indian refiners' throughput in May rose 0.4% year-on-year to 5.47 million barrels per day (23.11 million metric tons), provisional government data showed on Thursday. Refinery throughput in April was at 5.25 million barrels per day (21.49 million metric tons). India's fuel demand in May rose to its highest in more than a year, while crude oil imports reached a record high of 23.32 million metric tons. The country is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer. "What drives refinery runs is domestic demand and refined product net exports. Oil demand was modestly up in May versus one year ago and refined product exports lower versus last year, so I guess that is the reason for the modest change," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. The share of Russian oil in India's imports in May declined marginally as refiners cut purchases from Moscow by 15.7% to 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), tanker data from trade and industry sources showed. India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd ( opens new tab shut its 144,000 bpd crude distillation unit in mid-May, according to a refinery source and four traders who confirmed the development in early May. REFINERY PRODUCTION IN TERMS OF CRUDE THROUGHPUT (in 1,000 tons): Source: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas IOC: Indian Oil Corp ( opens new tab BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd ( opens new tab HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd ( opens new tab CPCL: Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd ( opens new tab MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd ( opens new tab Reliance Industries Ltd ( opens new tab Please note that CPCL's CBR refinery is de-commissioned under shutdown due to limitation in meeting required product specifications with the existing configuration.
