NEW DELHI: Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin rebounded slightly on Monday after dropping by 92% last week, but price economics remained skewed towards alternative feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at petrochemical units.

The crack rose by $2.58 to $39.10 a tonne over Brent crude. On Monday, the second-half June naphtha traded $4 per tonne higher than the following month.

“Naphtha cracking margins are set to remain lower year-on-year through the second half this year because we expect crude prices to rise by then as stocks tighten,” analysts at consultancy Energy Aspects said in a note.

This should buoy naphtha’s flat price, while downstream demand and prices will see limited upside through the summer, they added.

Meanwhile, the gasoline crack was down by 27 cents at $8.43 a barrel over Brent crude.

In physical markets, energy traders Unipec and Vitol snapped a cargo each of the octane-95 grade of gasoline. India’s MRPL offered 35,000 tonnes of octane-95 gasoline for May 23-25 loading in a tender that closes on Monday with same-day validity.

Taiwan’s CPC offered 33,000 tonnes of catalytic cracked spirit for June spot sale loading for Kaohsiung Port in a tender that closes on May 9. The tender will be awarded on May 11, the company said in the tender document.

India should ban the use of diesel-powered four-wheeler vehicles by 2027 and switch to electric and gas-fuelled vehicles in cities with more than a million people and polluted towns in order to cut emissions, an oil ministry panel is recommending.

India’s fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, was down around 0.3% year on year in April to about 18.41 million tonnes, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Monday.