Asia Distillates-Jet fuel cracks post biggest weekly gain in 2 months

SINGAPORE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Asian refining margins for jet fuel rose on Friday, posting their biggest weekly gain in two months, while cash discounts for the aviation fuel narrowed amid limited supplies.

The regional jet fuel market is expected to pick up further strength gradually as countries ease travel restrictions in coming months, although the usual seasonal boost during the Lunar New Year holidays would mostly remain dampened this year, trade sources said.

Refining margins, or cracks, for jet fuel JETSGCKMc1 rose to $4.43 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, the strongest since Jan. 18.

The cracks have gained 25.5% this week, the steepest weekly rise since Dec. 4.

"Our forecast is for traffic to return to half of 2019 levels in 2021," Alexandre de Juniac, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement this week.

"But the proliferation of restrictions on travel that we have seen since the beginning of the year could make even that modest outlook very challenging," he added.

Global air passenger demand in 2020 was 65.9% lower than 2019 levels, while global air cargo demand last year was about 11% below 2019, IATA data showed on Wednesday.

Some market watchers believe aviation passenger demand might see a surge soon after the majority of travel restrictions are lifted as a lot of people are bored of not travelling.

Cash differentials for jet fuel JET-SIN-DIF were at a discount of 15 cents per barrel to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with a 21-cent discount a day earlier.

ARA STOCKS

- Gasoil stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub STK-GO-ARA rose 3.4% to 2.7 million tonnes in the week to Feb. 2, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed. ARA/

- The data showed ARA jet fuel inventories STK-JET-ARA climbed 3.8% to 937,000 tonnes.

TENDERS

- Sri Lanka's Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) is seeking gasoil for delivery into Colombo over the eight months between May and December this year.

ISSUER	GRADE:	VOLUME:	DATE:	CLOSE (VALID)
*Sri Lanka/Ceypetco	BUY: 500ppm gasoil	280KB x 4	May 1-Dec 31, 2021	March 9 (90 Days)
*Sri Lanka/Ceypetco	BUY: 500ppm gasoil	227.5KB x 5	May 1-Dec 31, 2021	March 9 (90 Days)
	BUY: 10ppm gasoil	52.5KB x 5	May 1-Dec 31, 2021	March 9 (90 Days)
*Sri Lanka/Ceypetco	BUY: 500ppm gasoil	280KB x 4	May 1-Dec 31, 2021	March 9 (90 Days)

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

- One gasoil deal, no jet fuel trades

OTHER NEWS

- Oil hit its highest level in a year on Friday, closing in on $60 a barrel on economic revival hopes and supply curbs by producer group OPEC and its allies. O/R

ASSESSMENTS

MID-DISTILLATES
CASH ($/T)	ASIA CLOSE	Change	% Change	Prev Close	RIC
Spot Gas Oil 0.5%	63.71	0.82	1.30	62.89	GO-SIN
GO 0.5 Diff	-1.6	-0.05	3.23	-1.55	GO-SIN-DIF
Spot Gas Oil 0.25%	63.81	0.82	1.30	62.99	GO25-SIN
GO 0.25 Diff	-1.5	-0.05	3.45	-1.45	GO25-SIN-DIF
Spot Gas Oil 0.05%	64.08	0.82	1.30	63.26	GO005-SIN
GO 0.05 Diff	-1.23	-0.05	4.24	-1.18	GO005-SIN-DIF
Spot Gas Oil 0.001%	65.27	0.85	1.32	64.42	GO10-SIN
GO 0.001 Diff	-0.04	-0.02	100.00	-0.02	GO10-SIN-DIF
Spot Jet/Kero	62.77	0.96	1.55	61.81	JET-SIN
Jet/Kero Diff	-0.15	0.06	-28.57	-0.21	JET-SIN-DIF
For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please double click the RICs below.
Brent M1	BRENTSGMc1
Gasoil M1	GOSGSWMc1
Gasoil M1/M2	GOSGSPDMc1
Gasoil M2	GOSGSWMc2
Regrade M1	JETREGSGMc1
Regrade M2	JETREGSGMc2
Jet M1	JETSGSWMc1
Jet M1/M2	JETSGSPDMc1
Jet M2	JETSGSWMc2
Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M1	GOSGCKMc1
Gasoil 500ppm-Dubai Cracks M2	GOSGCKMc2
Jet Cracks M1	JETSGCKMc1
Jet Cracks M2	JETSGCKMc2
East-West M1	LGOAEFSMc1
East-West M2	LGOAEFSMc2
LGO M1	LGOAMc1
LGO M1/M2	LGOASPDMc1
LGO M2	LGOAMc2
Crack LGO-Brent M1	LGOACKMc1
Crack LGO-Brent M2	LGOACKMc2

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta; editing by Uttaresh.V)

((koustav.samanta@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3503)(Reuters Messaging: koustav.samanta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))