Asia’s gasoline margin declined on Friday even as inventories at key trading hubs of Europe and the United States fell, amid weak output and sales from some Chinese refiners, traders and analysts said.

The crack (GL92-SIN-CRK) traded at $9.56 per barrel over Brent crude, down from $10.49 in the previous session.

Meanwhile, Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, said it had shut down a 141,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Sakai refinery on February 17 after a fire.

The refiner restarted the 172,100 bpd No.2 CDU at its Kawasaki refinery on February 13 after an unplanned shutdown on January 29, a company spokesperson said. Eneos also conducted an unplanned shutdown of the 136,000 bpd CDU at its Oita refinery from January 21 to 27, the spokesperson added.

INVENTORIES
– U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) fell by 151,000 barrels last week to 247.9 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 6,000-barrel draw.

– Gasoline stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by 4% to 1.46 million metric tons in the week to Feb 20, their second weekly decline in a row, Insights Global’s data showed.

NEWS
– Russia has extended its gasoline export ban, with exemptions for producers, for six months, the country’s government said
– When President Donald Trump sat down to lunch with his Japanese counterpart this month, talk turned quickly to how Tokyo could help realise a decades-old proposal to unlock gas in Alaska and ship it to U.S. allies in Asia.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Four gasoline deals.
Source: Reuters