Asia Distillates-Gasoil cracks inch up, though lockdowns trigger demand concerns

    SINGAPORE, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil edged higher on
Monday, though the overall sentiment in the industrial fuel market continued to be weighed down
by renewed lockdowns in several markets as supplies remain aplenty amid sluggish demand.
    Refining margins, also known as cracks, for 10 ppm gasoil rose to $5.61 a
barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with $5.40 per barrel on Friday.
    Cracks for the benchmark gasoil grade in Singapore have shed 12.5% in the last month,
Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
    The lack of East-West arbitrage opportunities are still keeping the Asian barrels locked
within the region as gasoil stocks held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and
storage hub were at a more than two-month high last week. STK-GO-ARA
    The exchange of futures for swaps (EFS), which determines the gasoil price spread between
Singapore and Northwest Europe, traded on Monday at minus $6.56 per tonne, which
typically makes it unworkable for arbitrage shipments.
    Arbitrage is usually profitable when the EFS trades at about minus $15 a tonne or below,
though it also depends on other factors such as freight rates, according to traders. 
    Traders, however, have been using new-build very large crude carriers (VLCCs) to take gasoil
from Asia to the West on their maiden voyages quite regularly since last year.
    Asia-loading diesel flows were at 4.17 million tonnes so far in January, on track to fall
below the revised December assessment of 9.51 million tonnes, Refinitiv Oil Research assessments
showed on Thursday.
    Cash differentials for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content GO10-SIN-DIF were at a discount
of 26 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes, the widest discounts since Jan. 8. They were at a
discount of 24 cents per barrel on Friday.
    The February/March time spread for 10 ppm gasoil widened its contango by a
cent on Monday to trade at a discount of 16 cents per barrel.
    
    SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
    - No gasoil deals, no jet fuel trades
    
    OTHER NEWS
    - Indonesia said its coast guard seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the
Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country's waters
on Sunday.

    ASSESSMENTS
 MID-DISTILLATES                                                                          
 CASH ($/T)             ASIA CLOSE       Change   % Change   Prev Close   RIC
 Spot Gas Oil 0.5%                58.92     0.46       0.79        58.46  GO-SIN
 GO 0.5 Diff                      -1.68    -0.01       0.60        -1.67  GO-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.25%               59.02     0.46       0.79        58.56  GO25-SIN
 GO 0.25 Diff                     -1.58    -0.01       0.64        -1.57  GO25-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.05%               59.27     0.46       0.78        58.81  GO005-SIN
 GO 0.05 Diff                     -1.33    -0.01       0.76        -1.32  GO005-SIN-DIF
 Spot Gas Oil 0.001%              60.34     0.45       0.75        59.89  GO10-SIN
 GO 0.001 Diff                    -0.26    -0.02       8.33        -0.24  GO10-SIN-DIF
 Spot Jet/Kero                    58.08     0.22       0.38        57.86  JET-SIN
 Jet/Kero Diff                    -0.28    -0.02       7.69        -0.26  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 Sherry Jacob-Phillips)