South Korean refiners have all raised their run rates in August, amid better cracking margins, especially for middle distillates, refining and trade sources said Friday.
S-Oil has raised its run rates to almost 100% from 91-92% in July at its 580,000 b/d Onsan refinery in the country's southeast, a company source said.
GS Caltex has also increased its run rates to 95% in August at its 750,000 b/d Yeosu refinery from 93% in July, said a company source.
Hyundai Oilbank was running its 390,000 b/d Daesan refinery at 87% in August, up from 83% in July, a company source said.
SK Energy has raised its August run rates by around 1% from July out at its Ulsan and Incheon refineries, a company source said, but its current run rate was not known. The combined capacity of the two refineries is 1.115million b/d.
Refining margins for middle distillates, which include gasoil, jet fuel and kerosene, have been improving since the start of August. The benchmark 0.5% sulfur gasoil/Dubai crude crack spread assessed by Platts rose to$13.61/barrel over August 2-12 from the July average of $12.21/b, data showed.
Strong buying by Singapore trading outfit Hin Leong during the Platts Market On Close assessment process since early August has been the driving factor behind gasoil prices rising, Platts reported earlier. So far, Hin Leong has bought a total of 2.35 million barrels of 0.5% sulfur gasoil and 600,000 barrels of 10 ppm sulfur gasoil.
Kerosene margins have also gone up -- by around 7% compared with gasoil's 11.5% -- from the July average of $12.83/b to $13.71/b over August 2-12, data
showed.
As a result of higher run rates at refineries, South Korea's bunker supply has become ample, and refiners were offering down their cargoes to sell in the spot market, trade sources said.
South Korea's 380 CST bunker premium over Mean of Platts Singapore 380CST high sulfur fuel oil cargo values fell by $2.26/mt on August 5 from $23.04/mt a week earlier, as a result of refiners cutting down prices to sell.While the premium has gone up to $12.09/mt Thursday, it was still lower than the typical $15-20/mt range, data showed.
The higher run rates also led to ample production of HSFO, with refiner S-Oil having to sell 40,000 mt of mixed, cracked HSFO to China, for second-half August loading, at a lower premium from July, a company source said. The refiner originally didn't have any plans to sell HSFO in August.
S-Oil sold the cargo at a premium of $3-4/mt over MOPS 380 CST HSFO, FOB South Korea, while the same volume of HSFO for loading in July was sold at a premium of around $7/mt over MOPS. S-Oil's HSFO typically contains a maximum 3.5% sulfur with a viscosity of 380 CST.
S-Oil has raised its run rates to almost 100% from 91-92% in July at its 580,000 b/d Onsan refinery in the country's southeast, a company source said.
GS Caltex has also increased its run rates to 95% in August at its 750,000 b/d Yeosu refinery from 93% in July, said a company source.
Hyundai Oilbank was running its 390,000 b/d Daesan refinery at 87% in August, up from 83% in July, a company source said.
SK Energy has raised its August run rates by around 1% from July out at its Ulsan and Incheon refineries, a company source said, but its current run rate was not known. The combined capacity of the two refineries is 1.115million b/d.
Refining margins for middle distillates, which include gasoil, jet fuel and kerosene, have been improving since the start of August. The benchmark 0.5% sulfur gasoil/Dubai crude crack spread assessed by Platts rose to$13.61/barrel over August 2-12 from the July average of $12.21/b, data showed.
Strong buying by Singapore trading outfit Hin Leong during the Platts Market On Close assessment process since early August has been the driving factor behind gasoil prices rising, Platts reported earlier. So far, Hin Leong has bought a total of 2.35 million barrels of 0.5% sulfur gasoil and 600,000 barrels of 10 ppm sulfur gasoil.
Kerosene margins have also gone up -- by around 7% compared with gasoil's 11.5% -- from the July average of $12.83/b to $13.71/b over August 2-12, data
showed.
As a result of higher run rates at refineries, South Korea's bunker supply has become ample, and refiners were offering down their cargoes to sell in the spot market, trade sources said.
South Korea's 380 CST bunker premium over Mean of Platts Singapore 380CST high sulfur fuel oil cargo values fell by $2.26/mt on August 5 from $23.04/mt a week earlier, as a result of refiners cutting down prices to sell.While the premium has gone up to $12.09/mt Thursday, it was still lower than the typical $15-20/mt range, data showed.
The higher run rates also led to ample production of HSFO, with refiner S-Oil having to sell 40,000 mt of mixed, cracked HSFO to China, for second-half August loading, at a lower premium from July, a company source said. The refiner originally didn't have any plans to sell HSFO in August.
S-Oil sold the cargo at a premium of $3-4/mt over MOPS 380 CST HSFO, FOB South Korea, while the same volume of HSFO for loading in July was sold at a premium of around $7/mt over MOPS. S-Oil's HSFO typically contains a maximum 3.5% sulfur with a viscosity of 380 CST.
