Asia's naphtha crack started the year at a two-week low of $80.43 a tonne on Thursday as weak petrochemical margins dragged.

South Korea's LG Chem is bringing forward a partial maintenance plan at one of its two naphtha crackers to Jan. 13 amid weakening petrochemical margins.

During the partial maintenance, its total overall January run rates at its two crackers, which have a combined capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year, will be lowered to 95% from full tilt.

At least four other crackers in North and Southeast Asia were said to have trimmed runs, but this could not be independently confirmed.

The last time cracks across Asia cut runs to combat bad margins was in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

Singapore's onshore light distillates inventories, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, fell 8.4% or about 1.07 million barrels to reach a four-week low of 11.60 million barrels in the week to January 1.

This also reflects a drop of almost 28% when compared with the same period a year ago.

But Asia's gasoline crack remained under pressure as there were sufficient cargoes, especially when Chinese exports were expected to stay high due to added refining capacities.

Asia's gasoline crack at $5.09 a barrel was similarly at a two-week low.