Asia’s naphtha and gasoline margins declined on Thursday after stocks at Singapore’s trading hub showed a large buildup, although sentiment remained positive amid tight supplies for both the products.
The naphtha crack slipped to $105.10 a tonne, and the gasoline crack dropped to $10.56 a barrel over Brent crude.
In physical markets, there were a flurry of gasoline trades. Energy trader Vitol snapped up a total of 100,000 barrels of the fuel and Unipec bought a single parcel of 50,000 barrels.
Refiners’ profit from making gasoline has tripled in Asia this year from October lows amid tight supplies from China and hopes of record Indonesian demand, a trend that is likely to continue into summer driving season, traders and analysts said.
INVENTORIES
Singapore’s onshore inventories of lights distillates climbed 1.567 million barrels to a two-week high of 17.145 million barrels n the week to March 1, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) fell by 900,000 barrels in the week to 239.2 million barrels, government data showed, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 500,000-barrel rise.
NEWS
– China’s seaborne imports of Russian oil are set to hit a record this month after refiners took advantage of cheap prices as domestic fuel demand rebounded, but Russia’s plan to cut exports will likely cap buying in coming months.
Crude oil processed by Indian refiners reached record levels in January, provisional government data showed on Wednesday, as the country boosted shipments of lucrative Russian barrels that Western countries shunned.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
Three gasoline trades, no naphtha deals.
Source: Reuters