Diesel cracks have strengthened today with continued support from US sanctions introduced on Rosneft and Lukoil, underpinned by disruption at Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery and escalating Ukrainian threats of attacks against Russian refineries.
- US gasoline crack up 0.2$/bbl at 17.04$/bbl
- US ULSD crack up 1.7$/bbl at 39.85$/bbl
- Kuwait’s 615k b/d Al-Zour refinery is currently running at just 150k b/d due to a fire which has affected the residue desulphuriser, according to The Officials via X, citing sources.
- Nigeria’s Dangote refinery plans to expand capacity from 650,000 b/d to 1.4m b/d by 2028, according to chairman Aliko Dangote.
- “Russia’s “oil refining industry” is already paying a tangible price for the war — and will pay an even greater one. Tasks were set to expand the geography of our long-range operations,” Zelenskiy said.
- US sanctions had knock-on impacts on various Rosneft/Lukoil subsidiaries, including those in Bulgaria and Germany, potentially impacting supply to local refineries if exemptions are not granted.
- Russia’s crude-processing rate was just over 5m b/d for Oct. 16-22, only slightly below the level in the previous seven days, as some refineries ramped up operations after seasonal maintenance or drone-related halts, sources told Bloomberg.
- Monthly shipments of diesel fuel from Russia’s Baltic port of Primorsk fell in September, Bloomberg reports.
- Valero’s Port Arthur refinery had multiple process unit upsets from Friday evening local time, according to an environmental filing.
- North German diesel imports from the US reached 68.2k b/d in October, the highest level for at least two years, according to Argus.
- HPCL’s Mumbai refinery faced operational issues after processing crude oil from HOECL’s B-80 offshore oil field, the company said in a statement cited by Bloomberg.