NEW DELHI: Asia's gasoline crack was little changed on Friday as losses occurring from a 25% rise in Northwest Europe inventories offset gains arising from more-than-expected decline in US stocks.

The crack stood at $6.98 a barrel, slightly up from $6.92 in the last session.

Gasoline stocks held at Europe's Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area rose by 25% to 833,000 tonnes in the week to Thursday, while US gasoline stocks dropped by 7.2 million barrels, more than the expectations for a 3.4 million-barrel fall. Demand for the 95-octane grade of the fuel remained firm in the markets. Vitol continued with its buying spree for an eighth consecutive day and bought two cargoes. Meanwhile, the naphtha crack inched lower after inventories at Northwest Europe increased slightly, while the prompt inter-month spread narrowed in backwardation by 25 cents.

The crack was at $130.35 a tonne, down from $130.78.

Naphtha stockpiles at the ARA hub rose to 296,000 tonnes from prior week's 293,000 tonnes, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

In physical markets, Glencore and Shell purchased a cargo each of first-half November loading naphtha.

Oil rose towards $73 a barrel on Friday, supported by growing signs of supply tightness in the United States as a result of Hurricane Ida and as US-China trade hopes gave riskier assets a boost.

China plans its first public auction of state crude oil reserves to a select group of domestic refiners, the reserves administration announced, as Beijing looks to cool high raw material costs for manufacturers.