NEW DELHI: Asia’s gasoline crack inched higher on Thursday as Singapore inventories declined after rising for two straight weeks.

The refining profit margin rose to $10.03 per barrel from $9.89, its last close. However, gasoline margins were headed for a weekly loss of over 8% amid fears of mobility-related restrictions to combat the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Singapore inventories of light distillates fell 118,000 barrels to a two-week low of 13.534 million barrels last week, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

Meanwhile, the naphtha crack rose 67 cents to $131.85 a tonne from the last close, although gains remained capped due to concerns over waning demand from petrochemical producers.

“Crackers in South Korea, Japan, Singapore have lowered runs to anywhere around 70-90%,” Mohammed Yasser, analyst at Refinitiv Oil Research, said in a note.

Oil slipped on Thursday as investors took profits following a month-long rally in prices, but strong demand and short-term supply disruptions continue to support prices close to their highest levels since late 2014.