Global gasoline cracks are soaring amidst growing market tightness. A cap on gasoline production and high blending costs could see cracks reaching regular 5-year highs this winter
Global gasoline cracks are soaring amidst growing market tightness. A cap on gasoline production and high blending costs could see cracks reaching regular 5-year highs this winter
The global middle distillate market looks finely poised for this quarter as we enter a period of seasonally higher diesel consumption in the Atlantic Basin and rising east to west shipments.
As the world tries to shake off the pandemic, Vortexa looks at top-level tanker demand trends to understand how the Crude and CPP markets have fared compared to the pre-covid period, the previous quarter and what is in store for the future.
Puzzling trends are emerging in the North Sea crude market with Forties cargoes increasingly seen offshore UK, yet at the same time Johan Svedrup flows to Asia are poised to rise.
Unprecedented gas price surge in recent months has tilted United Kingdom into crisis mode, but the problem is spreading across Europe and the rest of the world.
As diesel strengthens against gasoline in the Atlantic Basin, will East of Suez diesel exports dampen the flames or will diesel continue to strengthen in the next six months?
After dramatic start to 2021, one might have expected a more settled summer LNG market. However, several key factors have generated some of the most interesting few months in the market. Vortexa reviews these developments to distil key drivers and emerging trends across the global LNG markets.
Firm naphtha demand and discount to LPG prices has boosted naphtha volumes. At the same time LR2 tankers are involved in trades of other products, letting LR1 to gobble up market share out of the Middle East.
The WTI market is set for structural weakness as rising West of Suez demand is more than offset by drastic policy changes in China and rising Middle Eastern supplies.
As global diesel loadings rise amid lagging demand, we explore how the supportive factors in the physical diesel market are not enough to withstand the pressure of a product in oversupply.
Vortexa evaluates if the current large volumes of seaborne diesel on the water are a demand pull or a supply push from refineries as they max out gasoline production.
Vortexa data shows global jet fuel flows still remain well below pre-Covid norms, with little sign of a meaningful demand recovery so far this summer. Flows heading to key demand centres in Europe and Asia remain flat, but the US is proving to be a rare bright spot for import activity.
Vortexa shows diverging trends for crude arrivals heading to key Atlantic Basin buyers.
The OPEC+ announcement to stick to an increase in supply of crude has to date failed to kickstart a morose market. Using Argus Media pricing and Vortexa flows and freight data, we explore whether the expected second half of the year rally is due to materialise.
On the 27th May, Product Specialist Amy Lees and Machine Learning Engineer Christos Hadjinikolis analysed the quality of crude imported into the ARA region, a key refining hub in Northwest Europe, using Vortexa’s Software Development Kit (SDK). This blog investigates further into their methodology.
May saw arrivals of crude and products in West of Suez surging, while East of Suez markets disappointed across the barrel. There is room for improvement, but low crude activity merits caution.
Cheaper Suezmax freight rates led to increased employment for US - Europe flows. Will this trend continue amidst a positive environment for European crude imports?
Elevated naphtha exports from Europe supported long-haul voyages in favour of LR2 tankers. Yet, will this trend contribute to uplift LR2 freight rates?
Declining volumes towards the Far East limits tanker demand, but long-haul voyages to India keep VLCC and Suezmax tanker utilisation in balance.
US Gulf Coast imports of fuel oil and VGO are climbing as the region’s refiners respond to rising US gasoline demand.
Atlantic Basin crude/condensate departures (including intra-country movements) totaled 21.2 mn b/d in April, the highest, albeit marginally, since May 2020.
Saudi Arabia's imports of dirty petroleum products are strengthening as the country gears up for peak summer demand.
A breakdown of the impact on oil, freight and flows in the aftermath of the Suez Canal blockage.
The recent drop in US refinery throughput following the North American winter storm has strengthened transatlantic gasoline flows, while exerting pressure on Medium Range (MR) tankers operating in the Americas. But looking forward, the tables could be turned.
European diesel/gasoil exports to PADD 1 in February are set to approach record highs seen in November amid tepid European demand and a cold snap in the US northeast.
ARA region's fuel oil exports have surged amid an influx of Baltic supplies, but limited arbitrage opportunities are proving to be a headwind for the market.
More CPC Blend could be sailing to Asia in Q1 2021 driven by demand weakness in Europe and tightening UAE crude supplies to Asian refiners
Floating storage told the story of the extraordinary moves in oil demand and supply in 2020.
US gasoline/blending components imports into its Atlantic coast (PADD 1) are set to fall to the lowest weekly total seen in months, for the DoE week ending 6 November.
On the 29th October, the global Vortexa team came together to discuss the middle distillates market, taking stock of the market from both sides of the pond, from Europe to America.
Our expert speakers Cosmo Kedros and Serena Huang discussed how low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) markets have been dramatically reshaped in 2020 in our webinar hosted on 30 September.
As the US northeast (PADD 1) heads into the winter season, one factor on the minds of diesel market participants is will the change of seasons drive a change in flows?
Diesel/gasoil exports from the US Gulf coast (PADD 3) in September are set to register the largest month-on-month decline seen since April.
The diversion of a gasoline blending component cargo away from the New York hub could foreshadow a weaker transatlantic pull for European gasoline/blending cargoes in coming weeks.r.
A second wave of diesel floating storage is now underway, as expectations grow for a further build.
How is clean products floating storage faring globally, and what regional dynamics can we see?
Sweden returned to the position of a net diesel exporter in June, amid improving European diesel consumption. Waning storage economics in the northwest European diesel market curbed the unusual flow of Russian diesel that moved into Swedish storage terminals observed over April-May.
North Sea crude exports have proven resilient among global buyers in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, as firm demand in Asia has overcome freight rate spikes and weaker regional demand.