Asia’s naphtha crack extends losses, gasoline climbs

SINGAPORE: Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin extended losses on Monday to hit April 2020 lows, weighed down by low demand.

The crack dropped to minus $11.00 a tonne, down $7.77 from Friday.

“Asian naphtha fundamentals weakened further on the back of incremental supplies this month even as demand for the light distillate remained suppressed amid poor downstream petrochemical margins,” said Krystal Chung, senior analyst of Refinitiv Oil Research team, in a note.

The gasoline crack rose to $29.80 a barrel from $28.27 on Friday amid robust consumption as the peak summer demand season in the United States and Europe starts.

Oil prices climbed above $120 a barrel on Monday, hitting their highest in more than two months, as traders waited to see whether a European Union meeting would reach an agreement on banning Russian oil imports.