SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack rose for the third straight session on Thursday to hit a 5-week high of $79.05 a tonne, on the back of strong demand and tighter supplies.

The stronger fundamentals were reflected in the latest spot deal where prices in South Korea returned to the positive zone for the first time in about three weeks.

YNCC snapped up naphtha for second-half October delivery at a premium of about $4 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight basis.

YNCC had paid a discount of about $1 for naphtha on Aug. 25, scheduled for first-half October delivery.

Asia's gasoline crack was at a three-session high of $1.64 a barrel following a drop in petrol inventories in the United States but stockpiles in Singapore was higher.

Singapore's onshore light distillates inventories, which comprise mostly of gasoline and blending components for petrol, rose by about 2.8%, or 381,000 barrels, to reach a two-week high of 14 million barrels in the week to Wednesday, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

The current stockpile level is 24% higher compared with the same week in 2019.

US gasoline stocks, on the other hand, fell by 4.3 million barrels last week to 234.9 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, as Hurricane Laura shut output and refining facilities.

The fall in gasoline stockpiles were sharper compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3 million-barrel drop.

The hurricane season has affected production at Texas as the US Gulf of Mexico offshore oil output on Wednesday was down by 368,223 barrels per day, or 19.9% of the region's daily production, the US Department of Interior reported.

Exxon is restarting a 120,000 bpd gasoline producing fluidic catalytic cracker and an 80,000 bpd reformer at its Texas refinery.

Exxon plans to restart the refinery by Friday after shutting it down on Aug.