Asia Distillates-Crack recovers but still relatively weak

SINGAPORE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Asia's March gasoil crack for

the benchmark 500ppm grade edged up 3.2 percent and recovered

from a two-week low to reach a four-session high of $9.71 a

barrel but still sharply lower than a year ago when it was

nearly $16, Reuters data showed.

This reflected the stubborn glut that has consistently been

weighing on the diesel market, traders said.

"Middle distillates supplies cannot be absorbed fast enough

as the industrial and mining sectors are not performing," said a

Singapore-based trader.

"This is why so much diesel is 'homeless'."

Singapore's onshore middle distillates stocks rose for a

second straight week, to over a three-month high of 12.345

million barrels in the week to Feb. 24, official data showed.

China, which exported a massive amount of diesel in the

latter part of 2015, has asked local governments in 11 provinces

to ban the selling of high-sulphur diesel used in the industrial

and farming sectors in urban areas.

TENDERS: Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) has received lower

offers to buy over 11 million barrels of diesel and jet fuel for

2016 than in its current term deals.

BPC has divided the supply of the products into two groups

with offers under group A ranging from $2.37 to $3.88 a barrel

for gasoil and jet fuel at $3.54 to $4.70 a barrel.

Offers for products to be supplied under group B range from

$2.57 a barrel to $4.40 a barrel for gasoil and $3.06 a barrel

to $4.85 a barrel for jet fuel.

Bahrain has offered 40,000 tonnes of 10ppm gasoil for March

24-27 loading through a tender closing on March 1.

China Aviation Oil (Other OTC: CAOLF - news) (CAO) is seeking 25,000 tonnes of jet

fuel for April 1-8 arrival at Huangpu, China, through a tender

closing on Feb. 29.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Two gasoil deals.

Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) bought 150,000 barrels of 500ppm gasoil from Unipec

for March 22-26 loading at a discount of 55 cents a barrel.

Total bought another 150,000 barrels of the same grade for

the same lifting period from Winson (Taiwan OTC: 4538.TWO - news) at $39.50 a barrel.

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

Close

Spot Gas Oil 0.5% 38.89 1.04 2.75 37.85 (GO-SIN)

GO 0.5 Diff -1.10 0.00 0.00 -1.10 (GO-SIN-DIF)

Spot Gas Oil 0.25% 39.09 1.09 2.87 38.00 (GO25-SIN)

GO 0.25 Diff -0.95 0.00 0.00 -0.95 (GO25-SIN-DIF)

Spot Gas Oil 0.05% 39.44 1.24 3.25 38.20

GO 0.05 Diff -0.55 0.20 -26.67 -0.75

Spot Gas Oil 0.001% 40.79 1.14 2.88 39.65

GO 0.001 Diff 0.80 0.10 14.29 0.70

Spot Jet/Kero 41.45 1.19 2.96 40.26 (JET-SIN)

Jet/Kero Diff 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 (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 Evans)