Asia’s gasoline margins declined to their lowest level in more than a week on Thursday despite three deals taking place at the closing window, as a higher-than-expected rise in inventories weighed on trading sentiment.
The crack GL92-SIN-CRK fell $0.75 from the previous day to $7.79 per barrel over Brent crude, hitting its weakest since Dec. 9.
Gasoline stocks in the U.S. USOILG=ECI rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 13 to 222 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. That compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million barrel decline.
Still, in Singapore, light distillate stocks fell by 556,000 barrels to a two-week low of 14.836 million barrels in the week to Dec. 18, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. O/SING1
In the naphtha market, margins NAF-SIN-CRK rose for the second straight day to $96.30 over Brent crude, from $92.30 a day earlier. Prices for first-half February and first-half March naphtha traded below $645 a ton, with a steady backwardation of $4.25 between the two.
NEWS
Oil prices fell after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, which could hurt economic growth and reduce fuel demand. O/R
Chinese energy giant Sinopec said on Thursday it expects China’s petroleum consumption to peak by 2027 as diesel and gasoline demand weakens, while noting that the incoming Trump administration represented a major question mark for China’s energy industry.
Gasoline demand is set to decline 2.4% to 173 million tons in 2025, with electric vehicles displacing about 26 million tons or 15% of gasoline consumption.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
Three gasoline deals and no naphtha deals.
Source: Reuter (Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)