Asian currencies split three ways today. The yuan firmed to 6.668 against the dollar, 0.033 stronger, and the won strengthened to 1323.18; the yen, by contrast, moved to 157.24, down 0.27 against the dollar. With three currencies going their own way, nobody computing Northeast Asian crude delivered cost can get away with a single assumed rate.

A firmer yuan and won lower import cost for Chinese and Korean refiners, but the Korean side still faces a lag between FX gains on dollar-denominated crude and domestic product pricing. A softer yen raises Japanese refiners' dollar procurement cost and trims the competitiveness of JPX-listed products against export parcels.

Step back to the cross-region picture: the euro edged up to 1.1206 against the dollar, so European refiners' energy book sits on a different line from Asia's. Asian buyers, aided by the firmer yuan, claw back a sliver of price edge — for the same ESPO or Dubai cargo, a buyer locking FX in yuan posts a smaller spread than a European counterpart settling in euros.