Singapore refining margin 2019-2022, by oil type

In the first quarter of 2022, ESPO cracking had the highest profit of any oil type refined in Singapore, at 15.71 U.S. dollars per barrel. This compared to 5.43 U.S. dollars for Dubai cracking and 3.85 U.S. dollars for Arab Light cracking. Refineries in Singapore are a major supplier of petroleum products such as motor and aviation fuels to the Chinese market. As such, profit margins are affected by demand from the Asian economic powerhouse and also reflect development of benchmarks such as the OPEC basket.

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on profit margins

The coronavirus pandemic has also resulted in refining margins being notably affected as refineries were run at lower capacity. The Singapore refining margin for Dubai oil fell to a loss of 2.51 U.S. dollars per barrel in the second quarter of 2020 and stayed in the negatives for over a year. The performance of Arab Light in the second quarter of 2020 may be explained by many Chinese customers stocking up on oil products when prices where at their lowest in April. By comparison, the U.S. Midwest refining margin stayed positive for all of 2020.