Vortexa’s Innovation Series made its final stop in Singapore last Thursday at the nation’s iconic Raffles Hotel known for its colonial charm and opulent grandeur. Our guests were treated to an evening of engaging discussions around our leading innovations and the latest market outlook, followed by a networking reception. 

In the first segment, our Founder and CEO, Fabio Kuhn, sat down with Stefano Grasso, Senior Portfolio Manager at 8VantEdge, discussing Vortexa’s latest destination model and freight analytics enhancements and demonstrated how these innovations have empowered traders in maintaining a competitive edge in today’s increasingly volatile and unpredictable trading landscape. Learn more about our latest destination model innovation here.

In the second segment, we hosted a market presentation led by Emma Li (Senior China Market Analyst), Anu Agarwal (Managing Editor of Argus Media) and yours truly, where we distilled key market signals shaping trade flows and price trends using Vortexa’s real-time flows, inventory and freight analytics data and Argus’ price information. 

We expect the global crude market to remain tight throughout Q4 2023 as Saudi Arabia and Russia continue production cuts, while refineries increase runs to meet the seasonal demand uptick. China’s crude imports are likely to remain resilient and its clean product exports, particularly jet fuel and diesel/gasoil exports, could see an uptick this quarter. Weakening gasoline cracks and robust middle distillate margins are signalling refinery yield shifts in favour of the latter, particularly winter-spec ULSD grade for Europe. 

Additionally, VLCC tanker rates have faced downward pressures recently but a rebound in Atlantic Basin crude exports to Asia is likely to spur a recovery. Clean tanker rates have benefited from strong trade flows and longer-haul voyages this year, and the seasonal demand uptick this quarter may provide additional support, although a mild winter could pose downside risks. 

We would like to thank all our guests who attended the event and look forward to delivering more cutting-edge innovations and thought-leading market insights in the future. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and with that, we draw our Vortexa Innovation Series for 2023 to a close.

See more Vortexa events here.