Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin declined on Monday after a sharp rise in oil prices, but expectation of tighter supply from the top exporter region of Middle east cushioned the fall.

The crack fell by about $3 to $13.93 per metric ton over Brent crude and the second-half November naphtha price gained about $16 at $665.75 per ton.

At the window, there have been no trades for naphtha this month so far. In gasoline markets, energy trader Unipec snapped up 50,000 barrels of the 92-octane grade of the fuel, market participants said.

The gasoline crack was steady at about $4 per barrel on Monday over Brent crude on upbeat travel data from China during the Golden Week holiday.

“The country’s strong travel demand could provide some much-needed prompt bullishness to the regional gasoline complex,” analysts at consultancy FGE said in a note.

NEWS

– Oil prices surged more than 2% on Monday as military clashes between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas ignited fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

– OPEC raised its world oil demand forecasts for the medium and long term in an annual outlook, and said $14 trillion of investment is needed to meet this demand even as renewable fuel use grows and more electric cars take to the road.

– Oil loadings from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk for October were set at 2.74 million metric tons, up from 2.5 million tons in the revised September plan, trading and shipping sources told Reuters
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)