Asia’s naphtha refining margins stayed strong on Wednesday due to a persistent rise in prices of alternative feedstock and a weakness in wider crude oil markets.

The crack traded at a premium of $33.55 a metric ton over Brent crude and the backwardation in naphtha prices widened to $4 per ton, LSEG data showed.

In physical markets, energy trader AGT Asia sold 25,000 tons of second-half December naphtha for a second straight day at $652 per ton, market players said. About 150,000 barrels of benchmark-grade of gasoline also changed hands.

The gasoline crack traded steady above $12 per barrel over Brent crude on Wednesday but concerns over lower Indian demand after lingered.

INVENTORIES

Light distillate stocks at the Fujairah hub rose by 897,000 barrels to 5.396 million barrels in the week to Nov. 13, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

NEWS

– China’s oil refinery throughput in October eased from the previous month’s highs amid weakening industrial fuel demand and narrowing refining margins. Total refinery throughput in the world’s second-largest oil consumer was 63.93 million metric tons, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

– A planned overhaul of the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at TotalEnergies’ 238,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas refinery is expected to continue into late November, said people familiar with plant operations.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

One naphtha trade, one gasoline deal.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan;Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)