Asia’s naphtha markets plunged deep into discounts this week, posting a loss of more than 200% as crude oil benchmarks firmed and were on course to post weekly gains of about 2%.

The crack NAF-SIN-CRK pared some losses on Friday and traded at a discount of $12.43 a metric ton. The first-half November naphtha price fell by $9 to $700.75 and traded $2.75 higher than the following month.

The gasoline markets also posted weekly loss of about 67% tracking a broader weakness in global markets. The refining profit margin for gasoline GL92-SIN-CRK fell to $2.91 a barrel over Brent crude on Friday.

Meanwhile, record volumes of refined products were shipped from Singapore to Mexico in the third quarter on lower U.S. exports to the Latin American country caused by peak summer demand and slow shipping through the Panama Canal, industry sources and analysts say.

The trend could continue into the fourth quarter, especially for gasoline, drawing down Singapore stockpiles and providing a floor for Asian refiners’ margins, the sources added.

NEWS

– India’s oil imports from Russia rebounded in September after hitting a seven month low in August as prices fell against Middle Eastern oil, preliminary trade flow data from LSEG, Kpler and Vortexa showed.

– China’s Dushanzi Petrochemical Corp, a unit of state oil and gas major PetroChina, said on Friday it began construction of a 21.88 billion yuan ($3.00 billion) petrochemical complex in the far western resource-rich region of Xinjiang.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

Two gasoline trades, no naphtha deals.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Maju Samuel)