SINGAPORE: Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin rose on Thursday after US stocks posted a bigger-than-expected fall, lifting demand sentiment.

The gasoline crack rose to $11.02 a barrel over Brent crude, compared with $8.30 a barrel a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the naphtha crack dipped to $12.48 a tonne over Brent crude, from $19.13 a tonne in the last session, amid a muted trading window.

Two gasoline deals, no naphtha trades.

US gasoline stocks fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week to May 12 to 218.3 million barrels, compared with analysts’ forecasts for a 1.1 million-barrel drop, said the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

Singapore light distillate stocks fell by 913,000 barrels to a two-week low of 15.810 million barrels in the week to May 17, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

Oil prices eased on Thursday as traders warily watched for signs of progress on talks to raise the US debt ceiling, after surging in the previous session on optimism over US fuel demand.

India’s oil imports from Russia rose to a fresh record high in April, further reducing the share of Middle Eastern and African grades to their lowest level in at least 22 years, data obtained from trade sources showed.

The recovery in global demand for petrochemical is likely to be more muted than earlier expected for the rest of 2023 due to tepid consumer spending, especially in China, a senior TotalEnergies executive told Reuters on Thursday.