SINGAPORE: Asia's gasoil cash differential for 500 ppm grade strengthened 5 cents to a 15 cents a barrel premium to Singapore quotes, the strongest since Nov. 30, as supplies tightened due to some refiners focusing on cleaner fuel production.
The upcoming refinery maintenance season in North Asia would also limit production.
China's Sinopec group will upgrade four refining bases between 2016 and 2020 to produce higher-quality fuels to battle against pollution.
After the upgrades, the total refining capacity of the four refining sites (in the cities of Shanghai, Nanjing and Zhenhai and Maoming-Zhanjiang) will reach 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd).
Asia's largest refiner also has plans to shut a 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Maoming refinery for more than 40 days for regular maintenance starting March 20.
OTHER NEWS: Gasoil stocks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fell by 2.9 percent in the week to March 2 to 2.88 million tonnes, data from Dutch Consultancy PJK International showed.
This followed a fall in US distillate stockpiles earlier where inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, fell last week by 925,000 barrels, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
In Germany, sales of new cars fell last month for the first time since October, with diesel models worst hit as authorities debate tighter regulation to help tackle pollution.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Five gasoil deals, with Winson picking up three of the cargoes and Vitol having bought the remaining.
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