Brent and WTI each fell $2.10, yet fuel oil rose 3.04% to ¥4,608/t while bitumen, natural rubber and butadiene rubber all dropped — refining cracks and rubber demand are on separate tracks.

Fuel oil rose while bitumen fell, and both rubber grades gained; SNSUC keeps thirteen categories in two books — energy-heavy-oil and rubber-polymer — to stop a blended average from hiding the signal.