Analyst brief

Asian Aug product cracks coming off but from recent highs

Published05 AUG 26 - 06:42 Reading time  minutes
  • Product cracks graph on continuous rolling front month basis shows a big drop when we moved into August.
  • However, strong backwardation structure across all the products show how tight the markets are.
  • Historical cracks for SG 10 against Brent show we are already at extreme levels.
  • China’s exports in August are anticipated to be significantly lower than July, likely to see only government-to-government exports on diesel.
  • Given likely lower run rates from end Aug/early Sep due to delays in the crude programme from the Bab el-Mandeb worries, upside for Sep Sing product cracks from current levels is in the cards.
image-8

(Singapore product cracks against Brent on C01 basis)

image-9

(Crude and Singapore product timespreads)

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(Seasonals for SG 10 / Brent crack)


About the Author
 June Goh | Senior Oil Analyst, Sparta Commodities
June is a senior oil market analyst at Sparta specialising in global crude trade flows and refining economics across Asia and Europe. Her analysis is regularly cited by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and Reuters. With a significant following in the energy community on X (@JuneGoh_Sparta), June’s insights are a staple for institutional traders navigating regional market shifts.
Connect: LinkedIn 
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About Sparta
Founded in 2020, Sparta made waves in the commodity analytics space in March 2022 when it secured a $6m series A investment from Singular. This success then later snowballed into a further $17.5 million in a series A funding round led by the technology venture capital firm FirstMark, with participation from existing shareholder, Singular.

The platform, created by former traders Miles Moseley and Felipe Elink Schuurman, is designed to answer a common problem shared by most traders: 90% of pricing data required to make trading decisions is kept in silos and shared manually by voice, email, or chat.

Sparta breaks these existing data silos and combines the physical and paper markets to provide traders with live access to global raw prices, from futures and swaps to forward freight and physical premiums. We work with clients globally, including Philips 66, Chevron, Trafigura, Equinor and more.

Topics Cross Barrel
Author

June Goh

Senior Oil Analyst

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