SINGAPORE: Asia’s gasoline crack to ICE Brent rose above $9 a barrel to touch its highest in nearly a month on Wednesday on tight supplies, while a flurry of trades on window lifted prices for the benchmark 92-octane grade.

There were nine gasoline deals of which eight were for 92-octane gasoline. Unipec, BP and Vitol snapped up cargoes for a second session. Unipec and BP each bought three cargoes while Vitol purchased two.

Analysts are forecasting US distillates and gasoline stockpiles to ease for a third straight week last week, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday. They estimated that gasoline inventories fell by about 1.8 million barrels last week.

Gasoline stocks at Fujairah Oil Industry Zone have also fallen 1.606 million barrels to 5.473 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 2, the lowest level in six weeks, according to industry information service S&P Global Platts.

Separately, South Asia’s demand stays firm with Pakistan State Oil (PSO) seeking three 92-octane gasoline cargoes of 50,000 tonnes for September delivery (see table below). Asia’s naphtha crack dipped on Wednesday while the intermonth spread between second-half September and second-half October narrowed in backwardation.

In an unusual purchase, South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemicals bought a cargo of heavy full range naphtha loading from Black Sea port of Kavkaz from Gunvor at $3 a tonne below Japan quotes for first half September delivery, traders said. The cargo is sold at a deep discount as it has high sulphur content, they said.