Asia Naphtha, Gasoline margin plunges to November lows, crude rises

NEW DELHI: Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin tanked to the lowest since Nov. 11 on Monday after crude oil benchmarks rose, while slow petrochemical demand continued to weigh on market sentiment, traders said.

The crack plunged to $2.75 a tonne over Brent crude oil from $14.32 a tonne in the earlier session.

In physical markets, energy traders Trafigura and Sietco bought 25,000 tonnes each of naphtha for second-half July and first-half August loading, market participants said.

Unipec bought 100,000 barrels of benchmark-grade of gasoline for late-June loading.

The gasoline crack rose by 79 cents to $11.30 a barrel over Brent crude on Monday.

Ports in China’s Shandong province are demanding more detailed information about oil tankers that are more than 15 years old that call at their terminals, sources with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying the unloading of crude shipments in the world’s biggest oil importer.

OPEC+, the group of leading oil-producing countries, is important for providing stability on global energy markets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, a day after the group met.