Asia’s gasoline markets gained on Wednesday on firm demand hopes amid term contract discussions for key importers like Indonesia, but China’s export quotas limited the upside, market players said.

The crack rose to $10.14 per barrel over Brent crude, compared with $9.88 per barrel a day earlier.

At the deals window, energy traders Unipec and Shell’s trading arm bought 50,000 barrels each of transportation fuel, market participants said. O/AS

In naphtha markets, the crack extended losses by about $2 to $86.92 per metric ton even as crude oil benchmarks weakened.

“Petrochemical margins are still doing badly and crackers aren’t raising runs back to full capacity,” said Krystal Chung, senior analyst at LSEG Oil Research.

INVENTORIES

Light distillate stocks at the Fujairah commercial hub jumped to the highest level since Aug. 14 to 7.264 million barrels in the week to Jan. 1, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

NEWS

– India’s top gas importer Petronet LNG is likely to sign a deal this month to extend its long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Qatar to beyond 2028, India’s Oil Secretary said on Wednesday.

– Saudi Arabia may slash price premiums on all crude grades it sells to Asia in February to one-year lows despite the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea, as concerns intensify that supply may outpace demand.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Devika Syamnath)