Summary
The May EBOB crack witnessed a fortnight of two halves. Initially, prices opened below the $21/bbl mark on Apr 09, facing downward pressure. However, this level attracted support, leading to a rebound that pushed the contract higher to $23.50/bbl upon close of April 15, in line with support being seen from Major/NOCs.
Looking at the open interest we saw an uptick in the M1 tenor across the five products in the past fortnight.
US gasoline stocks fell by 4.26 million barrels in the week to March 29. Contrary to expectations of another draw the following week, the EIA reported a build of 0.7 million barrels.
Bullish sentiment from money managers waned in the week ending April 09, as a more risk-on attitude prevailed.
Gasoline outperformed the corresponding crude contracts as cracks saw consistent support.
News/Headlines
China’s NDRC will raise domestic gasoline and diesel prices by 200 Yuan/mt and 195 Yuan/mt, respectively, commencing on Apr 17.
Russia is considering easing gasoline environmental requirements to allow the use of low-quality gasoline to counter possible shortages as well as boost production at outdated refining facilities. Russia has also asked Kazakhstan to be ready to supply the nation with 100,000mt of gasoline.
India’s gasoline demand rose to 3.324mt in March, marking a 6.9% increase from levels seen a year prior.
Spain reported its strongest February demand for gasoline since 2008, equating to 461,000mt and a year-on-year increase of 8.8%.
Europe 16 nations gasoline inventory rose by 5mbbls in March to 110mbbls.
Since June 2023, the IEA has revised higher the level of gasoline demand for 2025 by 700kbbls/d to approximately 27.3mbbls/d.
