Singapore refining margins rising after first half

Singapore refining margins have started climbing again, the latest figures from BP show. But this appears to be due more to refiners here benefiting from product shortages caused by recent regional hiccups, rather than a market uptrend. “It’s looking promising,” an oil company executive said of BP’s Global Indicator Margin measure, which showed Singapore margins so far this quarter at US$2.56 a barrel, up from US$.097 and US$0.85 respectively in Q1 and Q2. Refineries are currently running close to 90%, up from around 80% in the first half, the executive said. This is a turnaround from the sub-70% levels last year at the local refineries of ExxonMobil (605,000 barrels per day), Shell (500,000 bpd) and Singapore Refining Co. (290,000 bpd). (August 18, 2010)