Asia’s naphtha refining margins climbed on Friday and ended the week higher, as lower crude oil prices outweighed firmer global inventories of the petrochemical feedstock.
The crack (NAF-SIN-CRK) rose $8.92 to $90.75, logging a nearly 30% week-on-week increase.
Meanwhile, gasoline cracking margins (GL92-SIN-CRK) were little changed, dipping $0.41 to close at $4.27, and logging 1.4% week-on-week decline.
Gasoline stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose over 3% in the week to Thursday, hitting a new record high, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday.
The inventories rose to 1.59 million metric tons as blending activity in the region for export cargoes rose, while inland demand dwindled, Insight Global’s Lars van Wageningen said.
Naphtha stocks at the European hub reached 507,000 barrels, up 51,000 tons from a week ago.
Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline stockpiles (USOILG=ECI) rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 245.9 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday, in line with analysts’ forecasts.
Amid a sharp fall in refining activity, U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline inventories are now at their highest level in a year, while product supplied, a proxy for demand, fell to its lowest last week since Jan. 2024, the EIA data showed.
REFINERY NEWS
German oil refinery Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein GmbH (MiRO)has taken a 110,000 barrel per day crude unit offline after an unplanned outage, two trading sources told Reuters.
NEWS
Oil prices edged up on Friday but remained on track for a weekly decline after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a sweeping plan to boost U.S. production and demanded OPEC lower crude prices.
Donald Trump on Thursday said he would demand OPEC and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, to bring down the price of crude, and would ask Riyadh to increase a planned U.S. investment package to $1 trillion from an initial reported $600 billion.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec Corp 600028, 3368, said on Friday it processed 2.03% less crude oil in 2024 versus 2023 and its diesel output tumbled 10.27% over the previous year.
Freight rates for Russian ESPO Blend oil loading from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino have jumped fivefold amid a lack of vessels after fresh U.S. sanctions cut availability of tankers, three traders said and data showed.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
No naphtha or gasoline trades for the day.
Source: Reuters