Asia's naphtha crack rose for the first time in 1-1/2 weeks on Wednesday to reach its highest since April 1 at $49.63 a tonne, supported by gasoline demand and supply disruptions, industry sources said. Asia's gasoline crack surged nearly 18 percent to $7.95 a barrel, its highest since Oct. 1 2018, mirroring the strength in Europe where its gasoline margin hit its highest level since early September.
Analysts estimated that US stockpiles of gasoline fell by 2 million barrels last week, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday. If this materialises, it would mark its eighth straight weekly decline.
Japan's gasoline inventories were also lower, having fallen 30,000 barrels in the week to April 6 to reach 9.88 million barrels, official data showed. A technical glitch that prompted South Korean S-Oil Corp to shut a gasoline-making unit has affected supplies.
The 73,000 barrels per day (bpd) residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) has been shut since late March and is not expected to resume operation until the end of April. Supplies were also expected to be disrupted in the Netherlands, where labour strikes started on Monday at Shell's 404,000 bpd Pernis oil refinery.
India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp, meanwhile was issuing gasoline purchase tenders, though it was unclear whether the refiner had bought any of the cargoes it was previously seeking through various term and spot tenders.
Japan's JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy has restarted the 115,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Osaka International Refining Co after shutting it on March 4 for a scheduled maintenance.
China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest state-owned oil and gas company on Wednesday said it will permanently close a small, 10,000 bpd refinery in Taxinan, Xinjiang, from June 30 after the plant failed to meet environmental and safety standards.
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