Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin dropped on Wednesday in the absence of deals at the Singapore window and a spike in crude oil benchmarks.

The crack plunged to minus $17.18 a tonne over Brent crude oil, compared with minus $9.27 a tonne a day earlier.

Poor petrochemical demand and abundant supplies continued to weigh on market sentiment, even as inventories at the region’s top supplier Middle East declined.

Light distillate stocks at the commercial hub of Fujairah fell by 1.251 million barrels in the week to June 12 to a more than two-month low of 6.627 million barrels, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

NEWS

– India will soon overtake China as the largest driver of global oil demand, International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said on Wednesday.

– Shell Pakistan said on Wednesday that its parent company, Shell unit Shell Petroleum Company, would be exiting Pakistan with the sale of its 77% shareholding in the local business.
Source: Reuters