Asia's gasoline extended losses for the third day on Wednesday, nearing a 3-1/2 month low of $4.48 a barrel as supplies were seen ample. Singapore cash trades were unusually busy with 13 deals totalling 650,000 barrels of the fuel changing hands, the highest volume traded in a single session in more than 18 months.
Of these, PetroChina sold six of the cargoes. Gasoline inventories were building across the region. Japan's gasoline stocks for instance rose 390,000 barrels to a two-week high of 9.52 million barrels in the week to October 13. Light distillates stocks held in Fujairah at nearly 8.2 million barrels in the week to October 15 were at their highest since April 23, data from Fujairah Oil Industry Zone published through information service S&P Global Platts showed.
Data on gasoline stocks held in Singapore to the week ended October 17 will be released on Thursday. The gasoline crack in Europe has already tanked to a near five-year low on abundant supplies. Asia's naphtha crack eased by 27 cents to reach a two-session low of $83.48 per tonne with muted demand from end users.
High supplies have been putting pressure on spot prices recently with cargoes scheduled for second-half delivery to South Korea, Asia's top importing country, to fall to discount levels of $4 and steeper last week. Buyers were expected to start their purchases for cargoes scheduled for first-half December delivery and traders were hoping that December prices would fare better than November. This is because there are no more crackers going into maintenance mode and demand is expected to be stronger as a result.
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