SINGAPORE: Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil rose to a two-week high on Thursday, while middle distillate inventories in Singapore slipped to their lowest level in three weeks.

Despite firmer feedstock crude prices, refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil jumped for a third straight session on Thursday to $40.68 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, their strongest since May 11. The cracks were at $38.01 per barrel on Wednesday.

Cash premiums for gasoil with 10 ppm sulphur content dropped to $4.11 a barrel to Singapore quotes on Thursday, compared with a premium of $4.44 per barrel a day earlier.

Singapore’s middle distillate inventories fell 1.1% to 7.3 million barrels in the week to May 25, according to Enterprise Singapore data. This week’s onshore stocks were about 42% lower compared with the corresponding week a year earlier.

Weekly Singapore middle distillate inventories have averaged about 7.6 million barrels so far this year, compared with an average of 11.8 million barrels in 2021, Reuters calculations showed.

US distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 1.7 million barrels in the week to May 20, versus expectations for a 917,000-barrel rise, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.