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Oil Updates — Crude gains; S-Oil expects lower refining margins in Q3; Iranian tanker to retrieve confiscated oil cargo
RIYADH: Oil gained more than $1 a barrel on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session, buoyed by improved risk appetite among investors while lower crude inventories and a rebound in gasoline demand in the US supported prices.
Brent crude futures for September rose $1.20, or 1.1 percent, to $107.82 a barrel by 0158 GMT, after gaining $2.22 on Wednesday.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $98.70 a barrel, up $1.44, or 1.5 percent, after rising $2.28 in the previous session.
South Korea’s S-Oil expects regional refining margins to fall in Q3
South Korea’s S-Oil Corp. said on Thursday that profits in the second quarter rose more than 200 percent.
However, it expects regional refining margins to correct downward in the third quarter but stay elevated more than in previous cycles, supported by the tight supply situation in the global refining system, the company said in its earnings statement.
The company’s second-quarter operating profit rose 201.6 percent to 1.72 trillion won ($1.31 billion) over the same period a year ago, according to the statement.
In the April-June period, the refiner operated the crude distillation units at its 669,000 barrels per day refinery in the southeastern city of Ulsan at 93.8 percent of capacity, down from 98.4 percent in the previous quarter.
The refiner said it plans to carry out maintenance for its primary residue fluidized catalytic cracker in the second half of this year.
S-Oil’s largest shareholder is Saudi Aramco.
Iranian tanker to retrieve oil cargo confiscated by US this week
An Iranian-flagged tanker anchored off the Greek port of Piraeus is expected this week to retrieve part of its cargo of oil confiscated by the US and sail back to Iran following a Greek court ruling, government sources said on Wednesday.
The case has strained relations between Athens and Tehran amid growing tensions between Iran and the US.
The removal of oil from the Lana, formerly Pegas, prompted Iranian forces to seize two Greek tankers in the Middle East Gulf which have not yet been released.
“The (Greek) Supreme Court’s ruling… is in Iran’s favor,” a Greek government official said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The official said the ruling, which has not been made public, had come to the government’s knowledge on Tuesday.
For over two months, the Iranian-flagged Lana remained under arrest off the Greek island of Evia, near the town of Karystos.
(With input from Reuters)
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