Asian gasoline hits 3-1/2 month high

Asia's gasoline crack hit a 3-1/2 month high of $9.86 a barrel on Thursday, driven by demand as Indonesia was seeking higher-than-usual volumes of cargoes from the spot market. Pertamina, Asia's top gasoline importer, was looking for at least 700,000 barrels of 88-octane grade gasoline for June delivery through a tender closing on May 18. This came shortly after it was looking to buy 1 million barrels of 92-octane grade, also for June delivery, through a tender closing on Thursday.
Although the combined volumes sought through the spot tenders were small compared with its average monthly imports requirement at some 9 million barrels a month, it was not usual for the firm to seek such quantities through tenders, traders said. The reasons for this were unclear but the Muslim fasting month, which started this week, typically drives up demand for gasoline.
Adding to this was India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) looking to buy 91.2-octane gasoline for May 24-26 arrivals at Haldia through a tender expected to be awarded on May 19. Although the volume sought was small at 15,000 tonnes, BPCL is not a regular importer of gasoline.
Over in the US, gasoline demand was also seen increasing as the summer driving season kicked in. Gasoline stocks in the US for instance fell by a surprise 3.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel drop. Asia's naphtha crack was at a two-session high of $104.95 a tonne with demand seen firm.
South Korea's Lotte Chemical and SK Energy were among the first few to buy cargoes for first-half July delivery. Lotte Chemical paid a premium of $15 to $16 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis for the cargoes scheduled for delivery to Yeosu and Daesan, traders said. These were not only higher than the $13.50 to $14.00 a tonne premium Lotte Chemical had paid on May 8, but the fresh premiums were also the highest the petrochemical firm had paid through a tender since April 22, 2014. SK Energy on the other hand paid about $19 a tonne premium to Japan quotes on a C&F basis for the fuel.
PetroChina's Jilin Petrochemical shut its 700,000 tonne-per-year (tpy) ethylene facility for maintenance on May 8, a CNPC report said, but without elaborating when the unit would resume operations. Japan's Cosmo Oil shut a 75,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at the 177,000-bpd Chiba refinery on Thursday for planned maintenance which will last around a month. Its other 102,000 bpd CDU in the same refinery is expected to restart in early June after being shut for maintenance on April 19.