Everyone on the FIS Bunker Desk wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all the support this year and may 2022 be even better!
At 10 am Singapore time (0200 GMT), the ICE February Brent futures contract was down 25 cents/b (0.33%) from the previous close at $76.60/b. NYMEX was closed for the Christmas holidays, though the NYMEX February light sweet crude contract had settled at the end of the prior day Dec. 23 up $1.03/b (1.42%) on the day at $73.79/b.
Easing concerns over the omicron variant saw oil prices adding around 7.5% in value over the last three days. Both benchmarks were now hovering at highs not seen since Nov. 26. A spate of bullish headlines this week indicating positive developments in the fight against COVID-19 was boosting risk sentiment among investors. Recent studies showed the omicron variant was much less likely to lead to hospitalizations than the delta variant, while the US on Dec. 23 authorized for home use Merck’s antiviral pill Molnupiravir. This comes just a day after it approved Pfizer’s antiviral COVID-19 pill for use. (S&P Global Platts)
Further underpinning prices were supply disruptions in Nigeria and Libya that are expected to have knocked out at least 300,000 b/d of supply from oil markets. Thin liquidity was now expected to keep oil prices rangebound at least until the year-end, analysts said. The US oil-directed rig count fell by 11 to 552 in the week ended Dec. 22, data from energy analytics and software company Enverus Dec. 23 showed. (S&P Global Platts)
OIL MARKET ROUND-UP: (Bloomberg)
* Asia Set for More Atlantic Basin Oil on Shrinking Spread: Chart
* Teapots Applying for Fuel Oil Import Quotas Almost Doubles Y/y
* U.S. Total Rig Count Rises to 586; Permian Count at 294
* Gasoil Stockpiles Rise in Europe’s ARA Region: Insights Global
* India’s November Crude Oil Imports Highest in 10 Months
**Rotterdam 3.5% INDIC**
Jan22 411.25 / 413.25
Feb22 410.25 / 412.25
Mar22 409.25 / 411.25
Apr22 408.00 / 410.00
May22 406.25 / 408.25
Jun22 404.25 / 406.25
Q1-22 410.25 / 412.25
Q2-22 406.25 / 408.25
Q3-22 397.75 / 399.75
Q4-22 384.75 / 387.75
CAL22 397.75 / 403.75
CAL23 373.75 / 381.75
**Singapore 380 INDIC**
Jan22 423.75 / 425.75
Feb22 423.50 / 425.50
Mar22 423.75 / 425.75
Apr22 423.50 / 425.50
May22 422.75 / 424.75
Jun22 421.75 / 423.75
Q1-22 423.75 / 425.75
Q2-22 422.75 / 424.75
Q3-22 417.50 / 419.50
Q4-22 407.50 / 410.50
CAL22 416.00 / 422.00
CAL23 396.75 / 404.75
**Rott VLSFO 0.5% INDIC**
Jan22 526.75 / 531.75
Feb22 519.00 / 524.00
Mar22 513.75 / 518.75
Apr22 509.50 / 514.50
May22 506.00 / 511.00
Jun22 502.75 / 507.75
Q1-22 519.75 / 524.75
Q2-22 506.00 / 511.00
Q3-22 496.00 / 502.00
Q4-22 486.50 / 494.50
CAL22 501.00 / 509.00
CAL23 478.75 / 494.75
**Sing VLSFO 0.5% INDIC**
Jan22 569.25 / 574.25
Feb22 551.25 / 556.25
Mar22 539.75 / 544.75
Apr22 533.50 / 538.50
May22 530.00 / 535.00
Jun22 526.75 / 531.75
Q1-22 553.25 / 558.25
Q2-22 530.00 / 535.00
Q3-22 520.00 / 526.00
Q4-22 510.75 / 518.75
CAL22 527.50 / 535.50
CAL23 504.75 / 520.75
**Sing 10ppm GO INDIC**
Jan22 87.14 / 87.28
Feb22 86.44 / 86.64
Mar22 85.84 / 86.04
Apr22 85.34 / 85.54
May22 84.84 / 85.04
Jun22 84.35 / 84.55
Q1-22 86.40 / 86.70
Q2-22 84.79 / 85.09
Q3-22 83.73 / 84.03
Q4-22 82.85 / 83.15
CAL22 84.40 / 84.80
CAL23 81.40 / 81.80
**ICE Gasoil 10ppm INDIC**
Jan22 656.19 / 660.19
Feb22 653.13 / 657.13
Mar22 648.68 / 652.68
Apr22 643.95 / 647.95
May22 640.00 / 644.00
Jun22 637.00 / 641.00
Q1-22 652.65 / 656.65
Q2-22 640.32 / 644.32
Q3-22 634.36 / 638.36
Q4-22 628.51 / 632.51
CAL22 638.96 / 642.96
CAL23 614.22 / 618.22