Asia’s naphtha backwardation between first-half September and first-half October cargo narrowed sharply to $1.25 a ton on Thursday after price for the prompt-month parcel plunged.
The refining profit margin for naphtha dipped to $63.28 per metric ton over Brent crude, the lowest since June 23 and down about $8 from previous day’s close.

The gasoline crack, on the other hand, was little changed on Thursday at $8.78 even as inventories at key trading hubs increased.

Singapore light distillate stocks grew by 230,000 barrels to a two week high of 12.234 million barrels in the week to July 16, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
U.S. gasoline stocks (USOILG=ECI) rose by 3.4 million barrels in the week to 232.9 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with expectations for a 1 million-barrel draw.​

NEWS

– QatarEnergy raised the term price for al-Shaheen crude loading in September to $3.33 a barrel above Dubai quotes, sources said on Thursday, up 85 cents from the previous month and the highest in five months.
– India is confident of meeting its oil needs from alternative sources if Russian supplies are hit by secondary sanctions, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Two gasoline trades.
Source: Reuters