SINGAPORE: Asia's gasoline crack eased 1% to $2.49 a barrel on Wednesday, tracking losses in Brent crude, but the current petrol margin remained near a 5-1/2-week high. Light distillates inventories held in Fujairah in the week ended Aug. 17 fell to a three-week low of 6.9 million barrels, data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone published on Wednesday via industry information service S&P Global Platts.

This was 9% lower than a year ago, the data showed. Asia's naphtha crack similarly fell and was at a four-session low of $56.95 a tonne, with the value trading at a discount of more than $1 a barrel to Brent crude due to ample supplies.

A few end-users were seeking naphtha via one-year contract and this include Malaysia-based Titan, which is looking to buy 2021 cargoes, industry sources said. Other end users seen seeking term cargoes this month include Taiwan's Formosa and South Korea's LG Chem and YNCC. South Korea's Hanwha was looking to buy naphtha from the spot market but results were not clear.