Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin rose on Tuesday as 100,000 barrels of benchmark-grade fuel changed hands in the Singapore deals window, market participants said.

The crack rose to $7.02 a barrel over Brent crude, up from $6.90 on Monday.

In tenders, Qatar Energy offered 20,000 tons of 95-octane gasoline for August delivery, traders said. Vietnam’s Nghi Son offered 40,000 litres of the same grade for loading Aug. 15-21, the company’s website said.

In the naphtha market, the crack rose about $4 to $92.90 a metric ton over Brent crude. The backwardation between second-half September and second-half October widened to $3.75.

In naphtha tenders, India’s HPCL sold 23,000 tons of naphtha to energy trader BP for loading Aug. 10-13 from Mumbai, market sources said. Refiner HMEL sold to Vitol 10,500 tons of pygas for Aug. 9-19 from Mundra port, they added.

– Oil prices rebounded by 1% on Tuesday on supply concerns. Brent crude futures LCOc1 gained 76 cents, or 1%, to $77.06 a barrel by 0638 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose by 92 cents, or 1.26%, to $73.86.

– Oil giant Saudi Aramco on Tuesday reported a 3.4% fall in second-quarter profit on lower crude volumes and softer refining margins.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Haridas and Mohi Narayan, Editing by David Goodman)