OREANDA-NEWS. July 28, 2011. Asia jet fuel traded at the biggest discount to spot benchmark prices since February 2010 after Royal Dutch Shell Plc bought a cargo in Singapore.

Middle Distillates
Shell purchased 100,000 barrels of jet fuel from JPMorgan Chase & Co. at USD 1 a barrel below benchmark quotes, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders monitoring transactions on the Platts window. That’s the biggest discount since Feb. 9, 2010.

Jet fuel’s premium to gasoil, or diesel, rose 20 cents to USD 1.45 a barrel at 6:27 p.m. Singapore time, according to PVM Oil Associates, a broker. This regrade is up 32 percent this week, the most in five, indicating it is more profitable to produce aviation fuel over diesel.

Gasoil’s premium to Asian benchmark Dubai crude fell 11 cents from a week earlier to USD 18.62 a barrel, PVM said. This crack spread is a measure of refining profit.

Hin Leong Trading Pte bought 150,000 barrels of 0.5 percent sulfur gasoil from Shell, bringing its purchases this month to at least 3.05 million barrels, based on the survey. The Singapore trader received a discount of 30 cents a barrel. Total SA sold a cargo to China International United Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Unipec, at minus 20 cents.

Hin Leong also bought 150,000 barrels of gasoil with 10 parts-per-million of sulfur from Vitol Group at USD 2.30 a barrel over quotes, the survey showed.