Asia’s gasoline refining margins fell to their lowest in more than a month on Friday, losing for the week as softer demand prospects buoyed inventory levels of the benchmark octane grade.

The crack dipped $0.68 from a day earlier to $7.12, touching its weakest level since Nov. 27 and logging a 12.86% weekly decline.

Gasoline stocks in the U.S. rose sharply as demand weakened in the week ended Dec. 27, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

The inventories rose by 7.7 million barrels in the week to 231.4 million barrels, the EIA said, far surpassing analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.3 million-barrel build, and posting their largest weekly rise in almost a year.

Product-supplied, a proxy for demand, fell by 3.3 million bpd to 18.5 million bpd, its largest weekly decline since December 2022. Product-supplied sank to its lowest level since January 2023.

In the naphtha market, the margins jumped $5.15 from the previous session, ending the week 15.54% higher on prospects of the distillate product’s supply tightening this month.

Russian naphtha exports from the Black Sea port of Tuapse are set to fall to 90,000 metric tons in January, down one-third from the amount scheduled for December, two traders told Reuters on Friday.

NEWS
Oil prices were little changed on Friday and poised for weekly gains after closing at their highest in more than two months in the previous session, underpinned by expectations of further economic stimulus in China and lower U.S. interest rates.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may raise crude prices for Asian buyers in February for the first time in three months, tracking gains in Middle East benchmark prices last month, traders said.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
One naphtha trade and one gasoline trade.
Source: Reuters