Asia’s gasoline margins extended their decline on Friday, as it slipped to an eleven-month low, capping off three consecutive sessions of fall.

AramcoSG emerged as the biggest seller at the close of the trade window, selling 150,000 barrels of the 92-octane gasoline, traders said.

The crack fell to $3.24 per barrel over Brent crude from $3.75 on Thursday.

Explaining the dip in gasoline margins, a trader attributed this to the end of summer driving season. Another trader added this could be attributed the weak global gasoline demand, driving down prices and margins.

In naphtha, the crack dipped below the $100 mark to $95.05 per metric ton over Brent crude, after hitting $101.13 in the previous session.

INVENTORIES

Gasoline stocks at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by about 3.4% to 975,000 metric tons in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

Naphtha inventories were up at 491,000 tons in the week to Thursday from 468,000 tons in the prior week, the data showed.

NEWS

Oil prices ticked up in Asian trading on Friday, with investors exercising caution ahead of key U.S. employment data and a delay to production hikes by OPEC+ producers. Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 13 cents to $72.82 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were up 12 cents at $69.27.

Asian refiners’ margins slumped to their lowest seasonal levels since 2020 this week. Persistent weak margins could prompt refiners to trim their output, curbing crude demand in Asia, the region that contributes most to global oil demand growth.

OPEC+ has agreed to delay a planned oil output increase for October and November, the producers group said on Thursday after crude prices hit their lowest in nine months, adding it could further pause or reverse the hikes if needed.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

Four gasoline trades and no naphtha trade.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Haridas; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)