SINGAPORE- Asia's cash premiums for 10 ppm inched higher on Monday, holding close to a multi-month high touched last week, buoyed by tighter regional supplies and expectations for a gradual recovery in demand in coming months.

Cash premiums for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content climbed to 46 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes, up one cent from Friday, and within close sight of last Wednesday's 50 cents per barrel that was the highest premium since July 2020.

Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil rose 45 cents to $11.69 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, a fresh high since March last year.

 

GLOBAL FUEL DEMAND RECOVERY

- Global oil demand is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by early next year as the economy recovers, although spare refining capacity could weigh on the outlook, producers and traders said at an industry conference on Monday. 

- Global demand is seen rising to 100 million barrels per day (bpd) by end-2021 or in the first quarter of 2022, Hess Corp President Greg Hill said. The world consumed 99.7 million bpd of oil in 2019, according to the IEA, before the COVID-19 pandemic hammered economic activities and fuel demand.

- While a persistent rise in COVID-19 cases across markets has hurt recovery in demand for some refined products such as jet fuel, consumption trends of petrol and diesel indicate growth, industry leaders noted at the Platts APPEC 2021 conference.

 

KEY CRUDE MARKET ASIA

- Asia will increasingly be a strategic market for Colombia's majority state-owned energy company Ecopetrol, its president and Chief Executive Officer Felipe Bayon said on Monday. 

- Some 63% of Ecopetrol's crude exports have been shipped to Asia in 2021, compared with 52% last year, Bayon said in a pre-recorded speech for the 2021 edition of the annual Platts APPEC conference.

- Equinor has more than doubled its crude oil volumes supplied to Asia since 2017, with last year seeing a 30% growth year-on-year despite the pandemic, a company official said at the same conference. 

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

- No gasoil deals, no jet fuel trades

 

OTHER NEWS

- Oil prices rose for a fifth straight day on Monday, with Brent at its highest since October 2018 and heading for $80 amid supply concerns, as demand picks up in parts of the world with the easing of pandemic restrictions. 

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((koustav.samanta@thomsonreuters.com)( +65 6870 3503)(Reuters Messaging: koustav.samanta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))