Singapore resumes gasoline export to Mexico in February

Singapore, a gasoline blending hub, exported gasoline to Mexico in February for the first time since November 2022.

The city-state exported around 51,500t (435,000 bl) of gasoline in February, according to Enterprise Singapore data. Mexico was indicated as the discharge port for a 296,000 bl cargo during the week to 22 February and for a 135,000 bl cargo loading during the week to 8 February.

The last time Singapore exported gasoline to Mexico was a 266,000 bl shipment in November last year, with the second last export of similar volume in July. Singapore does not usually export gasoline to Mexico. The city-state exported only around 558,000 bl last year, although volumes were higher at about 887,000 bl in 2021.

Mexico gets the majority of its gasoline supply from the US, with the arbitrage flow from Asia getting rarer in recent months with sporadic exports from China, according to oil analytics firm Vortexa.

Mexican trading firm PMI could have chartered three medium-range vessels to load a total of 887,000 bl of gasoline from Singapore to the west coast of Mexico on 5 February, 15 February and 2 March, according to shipping fixtures data.

The flow could become more common with a wider east-west spread, or the spread between the price of gasoline in Singapore to gasoline values in Europe. The east-west spread has been assessed at around -$1.80/bl for March, but is wider at around -$4.75/bl for April.

By Aldric Chew