Asia’s naphtha prices rose on Thursday, tracking underlying crude oil benchmarks, and the backwardation between first-half May and first-half June prices narrowed.
The first-half May naphtha cargo was about $19 expensive at $658.50 per ton compared with the first-half June cargo. The refining profit margin for the product remained steady.
The gasoline crack was also steady near $9 per barrel over Brent crude on Thursday despite large-draws in Singapore and U.S. inventories.
Singapore light distillate inventories fell 845,000 barrels to a two-week low of 16.013 million barrels in the week to March 26, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week to 239.1 million barrels, government data showed, compared with expectations for a 1.8 million-barrel draw.
NEWS
– Ukraine and Russia accused one another on Wednesday of flouting a truce on energy strikes brokered by the United States, and the European Union said it would not meet conditions set by Russia for a planned ceasefire in the Black Sea.
– Saudi Aramco is in talks to invest in two planned refineries in India as the world’s top oil exporter looks for a stable outlet for its crude in the world’s fastest-growing emerging market, several Indian sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
One naphtha deal and one gasoline trade.
Source: Reuters