Asia’s gasoline markets lingered near March highs on Thursday due to a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. inventories ahead of holiday weekend, but the upside was capped as Singapore stocks increased.

The crack traded at $8.20 per barrel over Brent crude compared with $8.14 a day earlier.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 2.2 million barrels last week to 231.7 million barrels, government data showed, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel draw.​

Singapore light distillate stocks rose by 702,000 barrels to a four-week high of 15.509 million barrels on the week to July 3, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

In naphtha markets, the refining margin declined by about $2 to $74.75 per metric tons over Brent crude on Thursday.

A South Korean buyer snapped up the light distillate for August delivery this week, while a Chinese buyer sought rival feedstock propane for the same month, market sources said.

NEWS

– Russian gasoline exports by rail jumped by more than 70% in June from May to 423,101 metric tons after a ban on exports was waived, data from sources and Reuters calculations showed.

– Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, retreating from the previous session’s multi-month highs, with investors taking profits as demand caution remained in focus despite last week’s decline in U.S. inventories.

– China has asked its state oil companies to add 8 million metric tons, or nearly 60 million barrels, of crude oil to the country’s emergency stockpiles to boost supply security, according to analytics firm Vortexa and trading sources.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)