Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin extended gains on Thursday after underlying prices plunged by $16 due to volatility in crude oil benchmarks.

The crack rose by $2.57 to $84.20 per metric ton over Brent crude. The backwardation in naphtha markets rose by 50 cents to $15 per ton.

Analysts said weak economic indicators from China could weigh on the already negative sentiment in petrochemical markets.

China’s crude oil imports in November fell 9.2% year-on-year, customs data showed on Thursday, in the first annual decline since April due to weakened demand.

INVENTORIES

Singapore inventories of light distillates rose by 236,000 barrels to a three-week high of 12.033 million barrels in the week to Dec. 6, Enterprise Singapore data showed. O/SING1

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 5.4 million barrels last week to 223.6 million barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday, far exceeding expectations for a 1 million-barrel build.

NEWS

– India’s fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, fell in November by 2.8% month-on-month to about 18.720 million metric tons, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.

– Australia’s Woodside Energy and Santos said they were in preliminary talks to create an A$80 billion ($52 billion) global oil and gas giant, as consolidation among international energy firms intensifies.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

Five gasoline trades, no naphtha deals.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)