Asia's naphtha crack rose for the fifth session running to a one month high of $80.40 a tonne on Thursday, supported by strong demand from North Asia and March cargo volumes from the West lower than in the previous two months. Cargoes arriving from the West, including Europe and the Mediterranean, were expected to be about 1 million tonnes. That would be down dramatically from more than 1.4 million tonnes in both January and February, which had brought spot prices down sharply.
Malaysia-based Titan and Japan's Idemitsu picked up spot cargoes for the first half of April this week, joining the likes of Taiwan's Formosa and CPC, but it was CPC's larger than usual volume that lifted seller sentiment, traders said.Asia's gasoline crack eased by 2 cents to a two-session low of $8.72 a barrel.
Singapore's light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for the fuel, fell for the second straight week to reach 13 million barrels in the week to February 28, official data showed. This was the lowest inventory level since January 31. The weekly US gasoline stocks, however, showed a surprise jump of 2.5 million barrels last week, against analysts' expectations of a 190,000 barrel drop.
Overall gasoline inventories in the US rose to 251.8 million barrels, below levels seen in the past two years but above the five-year average for this time of year. India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) was seeking 55,000 tonnes of gasoline for Mundra and another 35,000 tonnes for arrival in Ennore/Vizag through a tender closing on March 8, with offers valid until March 9. The cargoes were to be delivered May to July. The refiner does not usually import gasoline and the reason behind the rare move was not clear.
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