SINGAPORE: Asia’s gasoline crack climbed on Thursday, buoyed by shrinking Singapore inventories and expectations that seasonal maintenance at regional refineries would keep supplies tight in the coming months.

However, concerns about the prospect of extended lockdowns in Europe and disruptions to the distribution of coronavirus vaccines could limit gains.

India reported its highest one-day tally of new infections and deaths and said a new “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus had been found.

The gasoline crack in Singapore rose to a near two-week high of $5.98 per barrel on Thursday, compared with $5.80 per barrel a day earlier.

By contrast, Asia’s naphtha crack fell to $100.15 per tonne, from $102.93 per tonne in the previous session.

Singapore’s light distillate inventories fell 6% to an eight-week low of 14.647 million barrels in the week to March 24, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

The inventories fell amid higher gasoline exports, the data showed.

Net exports of 90-97 RON gasoline were at 222,000 tonnes, up from 90,000 tonnes in the week before, while net exports of below 90 RON motor spirits were at 83,000 tonnes compared to net imports of 23,000 tonnes in the week to March 17.

Singapore’s naphtha net imports jump to 146,000 tonnes in the week to March 24, up from 46,000 tonnes in the week before.

Weekly Singapore light distillate inventories have averaged 15.308 million barrels this year, compared with an average of 14.2 million barrels in 2020, Reuters calculations showed.

US gasoline inventories rose by 203,000 barrels in the week to March 19 to 232.3 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel rise.