Asia’s gasoline market gained on Monday in anticipation of robust summer demand in the United States and the rise in Japanese demand as refiners undertook planned maintenance in the country.

The crack rose to $8.84 per barrel over Brent crude, compared with $8.27 in the last session. Reports of a fire at the Balikpapan refinery in Indonesia over the weekend also supported the crack.

Japan’s Cosmo Oil, a unit of Cosmo Energy Holdings, shut down the 102,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) No.2 crude distillation unit (CDU) at the Chiba refinery for two months on April 29 for planned maintenance, a company spokesperson said on Monday. REF/OUT

The country’s biggest refiner Eneos Corp has also shut No. 2 CDU in Kawasaki and 136,000-bpd CDU in Oita for scheduled maintenance earlier this month.

Traders also expect strong driving demand in the U.S. during the Memorial Day holiday that started over the weekend.

Goldman Sachs raised its global oil demand forecast for 2030 on Monday and expects consumption to peak by 2034 on a potential slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) adoption, keeping refineries running at higher-than-average rates till the end of this decade.

Saudi Arabia is planning a multi-billion-dollar share sale in energy giant Aramco as soon as June in what would be one of the region’s biggest stock deals, two people familiar with the matter said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Sohini Goswami)