Asia Distillates-Gasoil holds steady, Shell restarts refining unit

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) - Asia's benchmark 500ppm gasoil cash premium to Singapore

quotes held firm at 25 cents a barrel for a third day on Wednesday but jet fuel stayed mired at

a 25 cents discount to Singapore quotes on comparatively slower demand.

Supplies for both gasoil and jet fuel remain high, but the dry season has helped to boost

demand for the former while slower growth in demand for air travel has hurt the latter.

Global passenger demand rose 4.6 percent in April, the International Air Transport

Association (IATA) said on Monday. That represents the slowest growth since January 2015.

"Demand is still broadly healthy, but there is also growing uncertainty at the macro level

with cuts to world GDP forecasts and geopolitical tensions," said Jonathan Wober, chief

financial analyst at CAPA-Centre for Aviation.

In Singapore, Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: A0ET6Q - news) has restarted a refining unit at its 500,000

barrels per day (bpd) Bukom Island refinery. The unit had been shut since July 2015.

The restart of the 210,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) will add to supplies but it

comes at a time of strong gasoil demand in India, traders said.

Continuing French strikes over the government's proposed labour law reforms were also

lifting market sentiment even if there were no real impact on fundamentals in Asia for now,

traders added.

TENDERS: China's WEPEC sold up to 43,000 tonnes of 500ppm gasoil for June 25-27 loading from

Dalian at a discount of 30 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

China Aviation Oil (Other OTC: CAOLF - news) has bought at least one of three jet fuel cargoes it was seeking for June

and July arrival at Tianjin and Huangpu at a discount of 20 cents to 30 cents a barrel to

Singapore quotes on an FOB basis.

India's MRPL sold 65,000 tonnes of gasoil with 0.05 percent sulphur content for June 11-13

loading from New Mangalore at a premium of more than $1.20 a barrel to Middle East quotes on a

FOB basis.

None of the deals could confirmed directly as sellers and buyers do not comment on their

trades.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Phillips 66 (Hamburg: 18376318.HM - news) sold to Vitol 250,000 barrels of 10ppm gasoil for loading

June 20-24 at a premium of $1.50 a barrel, making this the only deal in the Singapore middle

distillates cash market.

MID-DISTILLATES

CASH ($/B) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC

Close

Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 56.94 -0.57 -0.99 57.51 (GO-SIN)

GO 0.5 Diff -0.15 0.00 0.00 -0.15 (GO-SIN-DIF)

Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 57.04 -0.57 -0.99 57.61 (GO25-SIN)

GO 0.25 Diff -0.05 0.00 0.00 -0.05 (GO25-SIN-DIF)

Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 57.34 -0.57 -0.98 57.91

GO 0.05 Diff 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.25

Spot Gas Oil 0.001% 58.59 -0.57 -0.96 59.16

GO 0.001 Diff 1.50 0.00 0.00 1.50

Spot Jet/Kero 57.82 -0.42 -0.72 58.24 (JET-SIN)

Jet/Kero Diff -0.25 0.00 0.00 -0.25 (JET-SIN-DIF)

For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please

double click the RICs below.

Brent M1

Gasoil M1

Gasoil M1/M2

Gasoil M2

Regrade M1

Regrade M2

Jet M1

Jet M1/M2

Jet M2

Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M1

Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M2

Jet Cracks M1

Jet Cracks M2

East-West M1

East-West M2

LGO M1

LGO M1/M2

LGO M2

Crack LGO-Brent M1

Crack LGO-Brent M2

(Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by David Goodman)