SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack and the gasoline premium to Brent eased to a three-session low of $86.30 a tonne and $3.94 a barrel, respectively, weighed down by stronger oil prices. The naphtha crack value was at a fresh two-month high in the previous session following strong demand and tighter supplies while the gasoline premium was hit a fresh 2-1/2 month high.
Oil price rose following more than a quarter of US offshore Gulf of Mexico oil output was shut and export ports were closed on Tuesday as Hurricane Sally stalled just off the US Gulf Coast. Analysts estimated that gasoline inventories in the United States could have fallen by 200,000 barrels last week, their sixth consecutive weekly decline, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
The rate of refinery utilization in the United States is expected to have risen 1.8 percentage points, from 71.8% of total capacity for the week ended Sept. 4, according to the same extended poll. Japan's average refinery run rates in the week to Sept. 12 at 65.9% were up from 63% in the week to Sept. 5, official data showed.
China's crude oil throughput in August rose from a year ago, reaching the second-highest on record, as refineries worked to digest record imports brought in earlier this year. The country processed 59.47 million tonnes of crude oil in August, or 14 million barrels per day (bpd), up 9.2% from a year earlier and the current rates are second only to the record of 59.56 million tonnes in July, official data showed.
Traffic picked up in cities across the globe as the summer season ended and schools opened, giving a boost to fuel demand, but the prospect of recovery remained weak as many commuters still worked from home and vehicle sales were down.
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