Asia’s gasoline margins climbed to their highest in more than a week as Middle East inventories extended declines for a second consecutive week, while trading activity remained thin following the Christmas holiday.

The refining profit margins rose by 16 cents to $8.24 per barrel, their strongest level since Dec. 18.

In the naphtha market, the crack eased from $100.35 in the previous session to $96.28, its lowest since Dec. 18, as no deals took place at the closing window.

Stocks of light distillates at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone fell by 241,000 million barrels to a five-week low of 6.445 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 23, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.

In Singapore, light distillate inventories rose by 341,000 barrels to a two-week high of 15.185 million barrels in the week to Dec. 25, data from Enterprise Singapore showed on Thursday.

Gasoline inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels last week in the U.S., according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute Figures.

Still, analysts expect gasoline inventories declined by about 1.1 million barrels in the week to Dec. 20, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

NEWS

Oil edged higher on Thursday in thin holiday trading, driven by hopes for additional fiscal stimulus in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, and supported by an industry report showing a decline in U.S. crude inventories.

China has issued 19 million metric tons of export quotas for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel under the first batch of allowances for 2025, steady versus a year earlier, several traders and a Chinese industry consultancy said on Wednesday.

Japanese oil refiner Taiyo Oil plans to shut down two crude distillation units at its 138,000-barrel-per-day Shikoku refinery in western Japan this week for scheduled maintenance, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters