Asia's gasoline crack fell for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, to $8.67 a barrel, the lowest since May 16 as seasonal demand was offset by higher oil prices and more consumers turning to efficiency vehicles. The number of electric cars, including battery-electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell electric passenger light-duty vehicles, increased by 57 percent last year to a record high of 3.1 million, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.
China accounted for 40 percent of the global total last year. By 2030, the IEA estimates there will be 125 million electric vehicles on the road, based on existing and announced policies, the report said. Firm oil prices also weighed on gasoline margins and could potentially hurt demand.
Indian Oil Corp, India's top refiner and fuel retailer, has marginally cut pump prices of petrol after domestic petrol and diesel prices hit a record high on Tuesday. In the United States, analysts were expecting gasoline stockpiles to have fallen by about 1.2 million barrels last week. Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) was looking to buy a total of 100,000 tonnes of gasoline for either June and July loading through a tender closing on May 31.
Asia's naphtha crack fell to a nearly two-week low of $106.90 a tonne as demand was mostly muted following a flurry of spot deals recently. There were, however, several outstanding tenders from refiners to sell June cargoes. KPC was looking to sell 25,000 tonnes of full-range naphtha for June 20-21 loading through a tender which closes late on Wednesday.
The Middle Eastern supplier has been seen offering more spot naphtha than usual as it recently offered more for May and June loading than for earlier months this year. The reasons behind the offers were unclear but Indian premiums for naphtha have been spiralling up to levels seen in 2014 recently due to tight supplies. Other irregular spot exporters who were looking to sell naphtha were Bahrain and Egypt.
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