Asia's gasoline crack extended gains to reach 64 cents a barrel premium to Brent crude, highest since January 8 as firm demand from Indonesia provided support. Indonesia is Asia's top gasoline importer as its refining capacity is insufficient to meet demand.
Pertamina, the country's state energy firm, however, is under pressure from the government to reduce imports of refined oil products as this creates a trade deficit that weighs on its currency. It is aiming to double its refining capacity as a result to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2026 to cater to national fuel demand of around 1.4 million bpd.
Demand from India has also been strong recently with refiners Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) seeking gasoline. Official data showed that India had imported 70,000 tonnes of gasoline in January, making this its highest monthly volume since May 2018 when it bought 120,000 tonnes.
India's gasoline exports for January on the other hand at 1.04 million tonnes was its lowest since August 2018 at 840,000 tonnes.
India's Nayara Energy was looking to see up to 35,000 tonnes of 95-octane gasoline and up to 10,000 tonnes of gasoline component for March 22-26 loading from Vadinar through a tender closing on February 26.
Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell for the third straight week, this time by more than 9 percent to reach a two-month low of 1.146 million tonnes, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International showed.
The data showed that some of the gasoline cargoes were heading for Singapore, where its light distillates stocks were at a fresh record high of about 17.3 million barrels in the week to Feb. 20, official data showed.