Asia Distillates-Gasoil cash discounts narrow; traders see ample near-term supply

    SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Asia's cash discount for 10 ppm gasoil narrowed on Friday,
thanks to a firmer deal in the physical market, but surging coronavirus cases across the globe
are expected to hurt short-term demand for the industrial and transportation fuel, traders said.
    Cash discounts for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content GO10-SIN-DIF narrowed to 49 cents a
barrel to Singapore quotes, compared with a 53-cent discount a day earlier.
    Refining margins or cracks for 10 ppm gasoil rose to $3.64 a barrel over Dubai
crude during Asian trade, up from $3.42 per barrel on Thursday.
    The cracks for the benchmark gasoil grade, which have risen about 46% this week, however,
remain at their weakest seasonal levels on record.
    Run cuts at some refineries as well as steady domestic demand in China and India have helped
tighten the market to an extent, but traders remain concerned that there would still be abundant
supplies for the rest of the year as Chinese exports are expected to stay elevated in the near
term.
    China's gasoil exports in October are likely to close at around 1.5 million tonnes, compared
with 1.19 million tonnes in September, Refinitiv oil research assessments showed.
    A majority of these Chinese export barrels are bound for Singapore, at 471,000 tonnes, and
Australia, at 308,000 tonnes, according to the assessments.
    The front-month time spread for the benchmark 10ppm gasoil in Singapore,
which has stayed in a contango structure since late-July, traded at a discount of 49 cents a
barrel on Friday. 
    
    ARA STOCKS
    - Gasoil stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and
storage hub STK-GO-ARA dropped 5.9% to 2.6 million tonnes in the week to Oct. 29, data from
Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
    - The data showed ARA jet fuel inventories STK-JET-ARA jumped 7.4% to a record 1.2 million
tonnes.
    - Compared with a year earlier, ARA gasoil inventories were down 1.1%, while jet fuel stocks
were about 61% higher.
    
    SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
    - No jet fuel trade, one gasoil deal.
    
    OTHER NEWS
    - Oil traders are scouting for newly built supertankers to store diesel for the next few
months as they brace for lower demand in Europe amid renewed restrictions aimed at battling the
COVID-19 pandemic, shipping and trade sources said.
    - Asian refiners are expected to raise their oil products output in the fourth quarter to
meet peak winter demand, but a gasoline supply deficit is likely as refineries prioritise
production of other fuels with higher profits, analysts say.

    ASSESSMENTS    
 MID-DISTILLATES                                                                          
 CASH ($/T)             ASIA CLOSE       Change   % Change   Prev Close  RIC
 Spot Gas Oil 0.5%                39.85    -0.84      -2.06       40.69  GO-SIN
 GO 0.5 Diff                      -1.50     0.01      -0.66       -1.51  GO-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.25%               40.15    -0.84      -2.05       40.99  GO25-SIN
 GO 0.25 Diff                     -1.20     0.01      -0.83       -1.21  GO25-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.05%               40.35    -0.84      -2.04       41.19  GO005-SIN
 GO 0.05 Diff                     -1.00     0.01      -0.99       -1.01  GO005-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.001%              40.87    -0.80      -1.92       41.67  GO10-SIN
 GO 0.001 Diff                    -0.49     0.04      -7.55       -0.53  GO10-SIN-DIF
 Spot Jet/Kero                    39.18    -0.60      -1.51       39.78  JET-SIN
 Jet/Kero Diff                    -0.60    -0.01       1.69       -0.59  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 Koustav Samanta; Editing by Devika Syamnath)