NEW DELHI: Asia’s gasoline crack surged to a fresh peak for a second consecutive session on Wednesday after crude oil benchmarks slumped and Middle Eastern inventories plunged to a five-week low.

The crack inched higher to hit a record high of $38.05 a barrel, according to Refinitiv Eikon data that goes back to 2000, compared with $37.98 a barrel on Tuesday.

Light distillates stocks at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) dropped by 1.294 million barrels to 5.807 million barrels in the week ended June 20, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Meanwhile, India’s state-run refiner BPCL has shut half of its crude processing capacity at its 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) Mumbai refinery in western India since June 10 to carry out maintenance, a company spokesman said.

Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday amid a push by US President Joe Biden to cut taxes on fuel to cut costs for drivers amid aggravated relations between the White House and the US oil industry.