Tonight's 20:01 snapshot put Brent at $112.07/bbl, up 2.98 on the day, and WTI at $99.50, up 2.41. Feedstock cost jumped nearly 3% overnight, but the products lagged: fuel oil at ¥4,911/t gained only 2.4% and bitumen at ¥4,533/t managed just 0.53%.

A simple Brent-in, fuel-oil-out crack spread compressed by roughly half a percentage point. Independent refiners live on that gap. When it narrows, the unhedged plants in Shandong immediately run the numbers and pull crude distillation unit rates lower rather than bleed cash.

Bitumen tells a separate story. Road construction is in its off-season, so demand cannot absorb the move; the price crept up only 0.53%, trailing fuel oil. Fuel oil strength came from bonded bunker restocking and import blending, while bitumen leaned on residual demand, so the two never moved in step.

For SNSUC's re-export book, dearer crude with flat products means the oil share of delivered duty-paid cost climbs again. The feedstock economics of short-haul light-sweet grades (ESPO, Dubai, Oman) need a fresh ranking; last week's delivered quotes no longer map to today's tape.