Asia’s naphtha refining margins clawed back some earlier losses to close at $85.10 per tonne, after physical price discussions caught up with gains in oil futures, but overall activity stayed thin.

A handful of Asian buyers covered their requirements the past two days for second-half March deliveries and retreated to the sidelines.

Deals were scant in the open trading market as well.

There were talks of heavy naphtha from the United States heading over to Asia for April arrival, weighing on forward prices as a result, with the prompt-forward price backwardation still valued at $11 a tonne.

Gasoline cracks firmed again to $14.17 a barrel for the second consecutive session as buying interest for February and March parcels strengthened, despite U.S. gasoline futures posting slight declines overnight.

TENDERS

Taiwan’s Formosa offers March loading alkylates

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

No naphtha deal, one gasoline deal

NEWS

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has diversified its sources of energy imports but will continue to buy most of its oil from the Middle East for a long time, the South Asian country’s oil minister said on Wednesday.

Oil prices extended their two-day winning streak on Wednesday, posting slight gains as the dollar weakened, while investors awaited more inventory data for clearer cues on demand trends.

INVENTORIES

U.S. crude oil inventories fell last week, while fuel inventories rose according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Crude stocks fell by about 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 3, they said. Gasoline inventories rose by about 5.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 1.1 million barrels, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Light distillate stock levels at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone hit a three-week high to 7.363 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 6, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Source: Reuters