In the Asian session on 11 November, Brent printed $92.42/bbl, up $1.01 on the day, while WTI traded at $86.55/bbl, up $0.60. Both benchmarks rose, but Brent's gain was deeper, pulling the Brent-WTI spread from the $7-plus level seen last week down to $5.86/bbl and shifting the cross-region economics of arbitrage cargoes back toward the US Gulf.

The listing benchmark follows the formula Brent x FX rate x 7.33 x grade factor. Plugging in Brent $92.42 and USD/CNY 6.6746 gives roughly ¥4,522/t at a grade factor of 1.0, a clear step down from the ¥4,700-plus level earlier this month. The seven traded grades - ESPO, Dubai, Oman, Urals, Basrah Light, Bonny Light and Lula - float plus or minus 8% to 15% around this anchor by API gravity and sulphur content.

The product complex split: fuel oil at ¥4,069/t (+0.89%) has slipped below bitumen at ¥4,267/t (-0.68%), pushing the fuel oil-bitumen spread to a -¥198/t inversion. Refiners are reallocating residue between VLSFO marine fuel and coking feed, with margins bearish on fuel oil and bullish on bitumen.

The rubber chain strengthened on its own: natural rubber at ¥19,475/t (+3.62%) and butadiene rubber at ¥15,455/t (+1.44%) widened their spread to ¥4,020/t, tilting the formulation-substitution window toward butadiene and lifting bonded natural-rubber lock-up demand.