More gasoil booked for NWE from

South Korea, China

Three Suezmaxes have been booked to bring gasoil to Europe from east
Asia, after two bookings on the route earlier this month.

Trading firm Vitol has booked the Spyros K to load 120,000t in South
Korea on 20 August and the Yuan Dong Hai to load 130,000t in Dalian,
China, on 6 September, both for northwest Europe. Trading firm Glencore
has booked the Ayse C to load 120,000t in South Korea on 29 August
also for northwest Europe. The latter two appear to be newbuild tankers
and have west African discharge options.

Gasoil movement on this route is rare, and may be increasing because of

a glut in Asia-Pacific, where China increased its exports after heavy
flooding on the Yangtze river. Renewed lockdown measures in several
countries, including India, have added to the regional surplus. Gasoil
derivatives in Asia-Pacific flipped earlier this month into a contango
structure, an indicator of excess supply where contracts for earlier
delivery are priced below those for later delivery.

The two bookings on the routes earlier in the month were made by
Chinese trading firm Unipec and trading firm Trafigura. Between them
they booked 190,000t of diesel and gasoil to load in South Korea and
China for delivery to northwest Europe.

For comparison, Vortexa said that only 244,000t of diesel and gasoil
arrived in northwest Europe from South Korea, and less than 100,000t
from China, in the whole of last year. Northwest Europe is receiving more
diesel than it needs, and diesel cargo premiums to North Sea Dated
crude recently dipped below a third of their average level from August
last year.

By Benedict George