Asia Distillates-Margins hover at 1 1/2-yr highs on robust market fundamentals

SINGAPORE, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Asia's diesel market performance was robust through the week, supported by expectations of firm November supply-demand fundamentals, while refining margins GO10SGCKMc1 rose back to slightly more than 1 1/2-year highs of $23 a barrel.

Spot November activities were still brisk this week, as a handful of northeast Asian refiners continued to clear their regular sale requirements.

Discussion levels turned mostly into premiums linked to free on board (FOB) Singapore quotes given the strong front-month fundamentals.

Markets also received an indirect boost from news of fresh U.S. sanctions on two key Russian oil exporters, with ICE gasoil futures jumping 7% from the previous session on Thursday.

Diesel timespreads also increased to nearly $2.4 a barrel, again hovering at two-year highs, reflecting the robust trading sentiment for November.

Meanwhile, the diesel east-west price spreads also widened late in the week to discounts of $42 a ton, reversing the narrowing trend in the past two weeks amid ICE price firmness and lowered gasoil stocks in the ARA region.

For jet fuel, spot November sales for the week were done mostly at premiums of 10 cents to $1 a barrel, also reflecting firmer front-month demand.

Support also came from a wide arbitrage window between Asia and the U.S. west coast, as some production remained curtailed at a major refinery there.

The 10ppm sulphur gasoil cash differentials GO10-SIN-DIF extended gains, closing at premiums of $2.36 a barrel.

Jet fuel refining margins JETSGCKMc1 likewise went back to 1 1/2-year highs of slightly more than $23 a barrel, trending in line with 10ppm sulphur gasoil.

Regrade JETREG10SGMc1 extended weakness, with discounts widening further to 50 cents per barrel given the firmer gasoil markets.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

- No gasoil deal, one jet fuel deal

INVENTORIES

- Gasoil stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by about 4.1% on the week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday. ARA/

REFINERY NEWS REF/OUT

- Marathon Petroleum MPC.N is restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit and diesel-producing Ultracracker hydrocracking unit (HCU) at its 631,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, people familiar with the plant's operations said.

NEWS

- U.S. crude oil refiner Valero Energy Corp VLO.N said on Thursday it plans to operate its 15 refineries up to 95% of their combined total complete throughput capacity of 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth quarter of 2025.

- OPEC is ready to offset any shortage in the oil market by rolling back its output cuts, as signs show demand is shifting to the Gulf and Middle East after the United States hit Russian oil majors with fresh sanctions, Kuwait's oil minister Tariq Al-Roumi told reporters on Thursday.

- Funding of a giant gas processing complex in Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga is well under way, the country's second-largest lender VTB VTBR.MM said, underscoring Moscow's determination to develop its energy sector despite sanctions.

- Oil prices were little changed on Friday, stabilising after the previous day's surge and remaining on track for a weekly gain as fresh U.S. sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies over the war in Ukraine fuelled supply concerns. O/R