Asia’s gasoline refining profit margin was little changed on Wednesday as markets remained tight due to hopes of lower supplies from key exporting regions and lower inventories at major trading hubs.

The crack traded at about $14 per barrel over Brent crude for a second straight session. At the trading window, a single parcel of 200,000 barrels of benchmark grade of the fuel changed hands, market participants said.

In tenders, after their October issuances, Indonesia’s Pertamina was heard to have sought two parcels of 200,000 barrels of 92-octane grade of the fuel at Tuban for mid November delivery, they added. The tender closed on Tuesday.

In naphtha market, the refining profit margin was down about $1 to $100.63 per metric ton over Brent crude and the backwardation between second-half December and second-half January stood at $8 a ton.

INVENTORIES

Light distillate stocks at the Fujairah commercial hub declined by 1.24 million barrels to 6.71 million barrels in the week to November 3, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 5.65 million barrels, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

NEWS

– Western sanctions on Russia and Iran are creating record volumes of oil stored onboard vessels, preventing a supply glut from forming in global markets, Gunvor Group’s CEO said.
– OPEC’s oil output rose further in October after an OPEC+ agreement to raise production, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, though the scale of the increase slowed sharply from September and the summer months.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

One gasoline trade.
Source: Reuters