SINGAPORE: Asia’s naphtha crack edged higher on Wednesday, halting a four-session losing streak that had sent the refining margin to a near four-month low.
The naphtha crack climbed to $87.88 a tonne, up from $86.18 a tonne on Tuesday.
A weak demand outlook for naphtha amid refinery turnarounds in North Asia and weaker European naphtha markets have weighed on sentiment in recent days.
Total naphtha flows into Asia for April have been provisionally assessed at 5.3 million tonnes to 5.4 million tonnes, assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research showed.
The April inflows were down 12% from the 6.1 million tonnes assessed in March and were lower than the year-to-date monthly average of around 6 million tonnes, the assessments showed.
Asia’s gasoline crack was also higher on Wednesday, up 11 cents from the previous session to $6.53 a barrel, supported by signs of improved demand and refinery maintenance in North Asia.
However, signs of rising supplies as some refiners increase output amid improved refining margins and a spike in coronavirus cases in some Asian countries, including Thailand and India, may cap gains.
American Petroleum Institute figures overnight showed US gasoline inventories jumped by 5.6 million barrels in the week ended April 9.
“If the EIA reports a similar gasoline number today, it would be the largest gasoline build since April last year,” ING Bank said in a note on Wednesday.
Official inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due later on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a refinery outage in Mexico may help draw on refined fuel stockpiles.
Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said on Tuesday the 285,000 barrels per day Lazaro Cardenas oil refinery it operates in the eastern city of Minatitlan is out of service after a fire last week.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted global oil demand and supply were set to rebalance in the second half of the year and producers may then need to pump an additional 2 million barrels per day (bpd) to meet the expected demand.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.