Asia’s gasoline margins rebounded on Wednesday, as crude oil prices remained under pressure while inventories in Singapore declined to a ten-month low.

The crack rose to $7.86 per metric ton from $4.49 a day earlier.

Light distillate stocks fell by 302,000 barrels to 11.74 million barrels in the week to Oct. 29, the lowest level since December 2023, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

However, in the U.S., gasoline inventories likely rose by 0.5 million barrels last week, while distillates were seen down by 1.4 million barrels, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

At the Fujairah commercial hub, light distillate stocks, including naphtha and gasoline, rose by 352,000 barrels to 6.35 million barrels in the week to Oct. 29, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

Naphtha margins rose to $119.58 per ton over Brent crude, compared with $117.68 on Tuesday in a steady backwardation of $6.50 per ton.

NEWS

Oil prices held at one-month lows, after sliding in the previous two sessions, as markets weighed a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and rising OPEC+ crude supplies against a possible drop in U.S. fuel stocks and demand concerns.

Kazakhstan will cut its oil output target for this year from the current 90.3 million metric tons due to some maintenance breaks at local oilfields taking longer than expected, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said on Wednesday.

He did not specify how much output could be lowered, but said that the giant Kashagan oilfield, currently on maintenance, would fully restart in a day or two.

Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery has a stockpile of 500 million litres of petrol, its billionaire founder said, countering claims by marketers who asserted they needed to supplement Dangote’s supplies with imports to meet fuel shortages.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Devika Syamnath)