Asia’s gasoline refining profit margins reversed course to trade lower on Thursday as higher inventories at key trading hubs of the United States and Singapore dampened demand sentiment.

The crack fell to $2.99 a barrel over Brent crude, compared with $3.77 a barrel on Wednesday. The price of benchmark grade of fuel fell below $89 per barrel.

At the trading window, energy trader Vitol bought a cargo 92-octane grade of gasoline and Shell’s international trading arm snapped up 50,000 barrels of the higher 95-pctane grade of the transport fuel, market participants said.

In naphtha markets, there were no deals so far this month at the window. The crack NAF-SIN-CRK gained some steam and climbed to $14.93 per metric as crude oil prices weakened.

INVENTORIES

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 6.5 million barrels in the week to 227 million barrels, the most since January 2022, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a jump of 200,000 barrels.

Light distillate stocks in Singapore increased by 19,000 barrels to a two-week high of 12.912 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 4, Enterprise Singapore data showed. O/SING1

NEWS

– Russia has overtaken the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become India’s top naphtha supplier, data showed, as New Delhi takes advantage of discounted Russian oil products and the re-routing of trade flows in the aftermath of Moscow’s Ukraine invasion.

– Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to provide state funds to ensure a smooth heating season, including the introduction of regulated prices for fuel oil supplied for household heating in some regions, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)