Asia's gasoline crack rose for a second straight session on Friday to a nine-week high of $1.67 a barrel, as traders expect lower gasoline exports from China following a surge in volumes last month. "January exports would be lower for sure as it would be hard to beat the December volumes," said a trader who tracks Chinese gasoline exports.
Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, for instance hit a record high of 16 million barrels in the week to Jan. 2, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.
This was due to a surge in Chinese exports being shipped to Singapore in December.
In the weeks ended Dec. 12 and Dec. 26, for example, China shipped nearly 350,000 tonnes and 260,000 tonnes of gasoline to Singapore respectively, the data showed. However, gasoline stocks across Europe and the United States were leaning on the high side.
Gasoline inventories independently held at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub were at a more than eight-month high of 1.37 million tonnes in the week to January 3, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International showed.
US gasoline stocks were also projected to have risen last week, an extended Reuter's poll showed on Thursday.
Asia's naphtha crack rose by 4.6 percent to a two-session high of $42.78 a tonne, possibly held up by gasoline as the former is used as a blending component in petrol. But demand for the fuel from the petrochemical sector remained muted.