Jet Fuel, Gasoil Cargoes Head from India to Singapore Amid Volatile Economics
Tankers carrying over 270,000 metric tons of middle distillates are making their way to Singapore after having loaded from India’s Sikka port in the days following the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, according to shiptracking services and market sources.
The Advantage Life and Advantage Love each departed from Sikka with around 103,000 mt of ULSD on March 1 and March 6, respectively, while the Navig8 Honor departed on March 2 with over 67,000 mt of jet fuel.
It is not uncommon for diesel to head to Singapore from Sikka, where private-sector refiner Reliance Industries or RIL operates. However, to ship such large cargoes in quick succession is unprecedented. Prior to March, only three diesel cargoes of a similar size made the same voyage since the start of 2023, with the last cargo shipped in July 2024, according to data from shiptracker Vortexa.
Shipping jet fuel from Sikka to Singapore is similarly rare. There were only three other similar shipments since the start of 2023, all of which occurred in November and December 2024.
Jet fuel and diesel cargoes of these sizes typically head from India to Europe, the Mediterranean or Africa. But the conventional routes might have been abandoned following the start of the Iran conflict, which has driven middle distillate prices in Asia to multi-year highs and turned arbitrage economics on paper topsy-turvy, market sources said.
It could not be confirmed directly if the cargoes currently en route to Singapore were originally meant to head west.
The Iran conflict has staunched oil exports from key producers around the Strait of Hormuz. India, compared to most other refining hubs in Asia, is among the least reliant on Middle Eastern crude oil for feedstock.
RIL operates a 1.4 million b/d refining complex in Jamnagar, including a 711,000 b/d export-oriented facility in the Jamnagar Special Economic Zone.
—Reporting by Hanwei Wu, hwu@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com