NEW DELHI: Asia’s naphtha crack rose on Friday after European inventories declined, indicating recovering consumption, although margins registered a loss of more than 8% this month due to tightness in the market.

The refining profit margin gained to $143.78 a tonne, up $3.69 from the last close.

“Refining margins in Europe and Asia have recently taken a step lower, triggered by re-emerging weakness for light ends (of the crude barrel)... The correction comes after naphtha cracks in Europe spent close to a month at a firm premium to benchmark crudes on a barrel basis, now moving closer to parity,” consultancy JBC Energy said in a note.

We would ascribe most of the recent correction in light ends to a return to higher supply levels, the consultancy further added.

The gasoline crack slipped to $10.87 a barrel from $11.16 in the last session, and posted a weekly gain of nearly 2%, as market watchers assessed the impact of rising Omicron cases on fuel demand recovery.

Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage area rose 6% to 1,162 million tonnes in the past week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

Naphtha stockpiles fell to 223,000 tonnes from 237,000 tonnes in the previous week.

China’s annual crude oil imports slid 5.4% in 2021, dropping for the first time since 2001, as Beijing clamped down on the refining sector to curb excess domestic fuel production while refiners drew down massive inventories.