SINGAPORE: Asia’s spot cash premiums for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil came under slight pressure on Wednesday as selling interest remained prevalent even as some traders came back to buy the lower-priced material.

Demand-supply fundamentals continued to be weak, with market talks of sufficient supply still prevalent for May. Several Korean refiners were still clearing their May stockpiles since early week via tenders.

Refining margins fell slightly to $14.40 per barrel given the unchanged weak gasoil fundamentals.

Jet fuel refining margins likewise fell to $13.15 per barrel, with regrade widening back to above $1 per barrel as some buyers returned to the market to trade on the jet fuel-10ppm gasoil spread.

Middle distillates stockpiles at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone hit a fresh high at 3.439 million barrels since end-December 2022 for the week ended April 17, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Oil dropped on Wednesday as the market weighed potential interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve that could slow growth and dampen oil consumption, offsetting falling US inventories and strong Chinese economic data.

Saudi Aramco offered more vacuum gasoil (VGO) supplies to be exported from its Jizan refinery in May, according to traders and shipping data, in a sign that the refinery is yet to ramp up to full output.

India and China have snapped up a vast majority of Russian oil so far in April at rates above the Western price cap of $60 per barrel, according to traders and Reuters calculations.