Northeast Asian refiners sold November-loading ultra low-sulphur diesel at the narrowest discounts since the start of the year as supply has tightened due to lower regional output, trade sources said on Friday.
Deals for mostly first-half November-loading 10ppm sulphur gasoil have largely been sealed at discounts of 30-70 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, the narrowest since January, according to traders and Reuters data.
Discounts for October supplies were mostly wider than $1 a barrel.
Spot sale prices have improved on the back of several unexpected outages in southeast Asia since end-September, following the shutdown of northeast Asia refinery units for seasonal maintenance, the sources said.
However, supplies may soon rebound as the prices are attracting more cargoes from swingsuppliers such as India and the Middle East, two Singapore-based trade sources said.
Shiptracking data from LSEG showed that Middle Eastern exports to Singapore could hit more than a year's high in October, though volumes to Europe remain at fresh highs.
From India, about 330,000 metric tons or a third of the country's diesel exports, isheading to Asia in October so far, LSEG analyst Charles Ong said in a note.
Indian barrels have started to pivot towards Asia, following the recovery in Asian price benchmarks, he said.
Six to seven ships are bound for Singapore, Australia and Bangladesh so far this month, LSEG and Kpler data showed.
"The backwardated price structure will probably entice some sellers to clear off their cargoes soon, which can help to alleviate some of the current market's tightness," a third source said, referring to themarket structure for gasoil where prompt prices are higher than those in the future months.
Meanwhile, cash discounts for 500ppm sulphur gasoil have also narrowed. November-loading cargoes from South Korea were sold at discounts of slightly more than $1 a barrel, narrowing from discounts of $2-$3 last month.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Florence Tan, Varun H K and Savio D'Souza)