Asia’s gasoline margins climbed on Thursday as demand picked up heading into the festive and winter season in the Western hemisphere.
The crack rose to $7.46 per barrel over Brent crude, its highest since Aug. 2.
Regional traders said that with tariffs likely to be imposed on China and Mexico by the incoming Trump administration, they expect more oil to be diverted to the Asian markets with the potential impact on refining margins and regional supply beingtheir top concerns.
In tenders, Mangalore’s MRPL was offering 75,000 metric tons of 95-octane gasoline for the Dec. 15-16 loading period, according tothe company’s website. The tender closes on Nov. 29.
In naphtha, the margins snapped a four-session losingstreak to inch up to $85.70 per metric ton over Brent crude.
INVENTORIES
Singapore’s light distillate stocks fell by 1.82 million barrels to a four-week low of 13.344 million barrels in the week ending Nov. 27, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. O/SING
U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 3.3 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 22 to 212.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, rose by 400,000 barrels to 114.7 million barrels in the week ending Nov. 22, the Energy Information Administration said.
NEWS
Oil prices drifted lower on Thursday after a surprise jump in U.S. gasoline inventories.
Oil producers in Canada and Mexico will likely be forced to reduce prices and divert supply to Asia if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump imposes 25% import tariffs on crude imports from the two countries, traders and analysts said.
The OPEC+ alliance of oil-producing countries has postponed its next meeting on output policy to Dec. 5 from Dec. 1 to avoid a conflict with another event, OPEC said on Thursday.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
Two gasoline deals and no naphtha trade.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Haridas; Editing by Eileen Soreng)