Global product markets weekly: Refiners struggle with surging crude price

For the week commencing 9 April, refinery margins corrected downwards in most refining centres following the sharp recovery in crude prices. The only region to show a week-on-week improvement in refinery margins was the US Gulf Coast, as US domestic crude price rises were softer than some of the other international benchmarks. Weekly aggregated stock levels for gasoline, middle distillates and residual fuel oil in the US, NW Europe, Japan, Singapore and the Middle East are expected to have rebuilt. This is primarily due to a reported 1.6 mbbl build of middle distillates in Japan. The weekly average price of all regional crude oil benchmarks surged by more than US$3/bbl last week. Dated Brent recorded its strongest weekly average price since November 2014, with an average greater than US$71/bbl. Crude prices were supported by the growing international tension surrounding US-led military action in Syria, ahead of the airstrikes over the weekend.