SINGAPORE: Asian refining profit margin for gasoline climbed to its strongest level in more than six weeks on Friday, buoyed by tighter supplies and hopes of a gradual recovery in transportation demand as countries ease COVID-19 restrictions.

The gasoline refining margin, also known as crack, rose 39 cents to $6.67 per barrel on Friday, a level not seen since May 10. The crack has gained about 29% this week.

Asia’s naphtha crack climbed to $102.10 per tonne on Friday, up from $97.38 per tonne a day earlier. The naphtha crack has jumped 13.4% this week.

Reliance Industries will invest $10.1 billion in clean energy over three years in a drive to become a net carbon zero company by 2035.

“The world is entering a new energy era, which is going to be highly disruptive. The age of fossil fuels, which powered economic growth globally for nearly three centuries, cannot continue much longer,” Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at a shareholder meeting on Thursday.

Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell 4.2% to 934,000 tonnes in the week to June 24, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

The data showed ARA gasoil inventories rose 3.5% to 2.5 million tonnes.

Oil prices climbed for a third straight session on Friday, on track for a fifth consecutive weekly gain, as demand growth is expected to outstrip supply on bets that OPEC+ producers will be cautious in returning more output to the market from August.

The infrastructure deal struck by a group of bipartisan senators and President Joe Biden on Thursday includes partial funding by a proposed $6 billion sale from the US emergency oil reserve, according to a document circulated by Republican lawmakers.