Asia's gasoline cracks fell to a two-week low of $11.25 a barrel on Friday, dragged down by firm Brent crude and a build-up in inventories in the US for the fourth straight week.
Asia's naphtha crack was also down, reaching a one-week low of $103.38 a tonne as trades fell into a temporary lull ahead of the Chinese New Year.
But the fall in cracks was likely a temporary setback as the supplies were expected to be tight.
The recent fire in Ruwais was still seen having an impact on oil products including gasoline and naphtha.
About 60,000 tonnes of European gasoline is expected to arrive in the United Arab Emirates on vessel 'Torm Emilie', industry sources said.
The ship was chartered by oil major BP and was receiving the fuel from Castellon, Spain, earlier this week.
Overall, gasoline supplies could stay tight for some time as consumption grows and as stricter fuel specifications in top consumers force some inefficient producers to cut supply.
As for naphtha, demand was to stay strong as petrochemical makers were not expected to rely on alternative feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) due to the high spot prices caused by demand in the heating sector.
Recent spot prices in North Asian were seen trending up, with this week's premium in Japan reaching $10.50 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis for a March cargo.
Comments
Comments are closed.