SINGAPORE- Asia's gasoline crack rose for a fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, climbing to its strongest in nearly a month, buoyed by expectations for a gradual demand recovery as wider COVID-19 vaccinations help further ease mobility restrictions in the coming months.

Refining margins or cracks for gasoline GL92-SIN-CRK rose to $7.79 per barrel on Wednesday, the highest since Aug. 19. The crack was at $7.63 per barrel a day earlier.

"South Asian demand remains strong as restrictions in India have been eased further ... We expect Indian demand to grow further by 40,000 barrel per day quarter-on-quarter with the start of the festival season but recognize that there could be some downside if case spikes trigger mobility restrictions," Energy Aspects said in a monthly note.

"While Chinese gasoline exports are set to climb higher from September, Q4 21 Asian gasoline fundamentals could remain balanced on persistent western pulls, as indicated by weakening east–west spreads," the consultancy added.

Asia's naphtha crack climbed to $132.68 per tonne on Wednesday, compared with $128.78 per tonne on Tuesday.

 

CHINA REFINERY OUTPUT SINKS

- China's crude oil throughput continued to fall in August, with daily runs hitting the lowest since May 2020, as a resurgence in coronavirus cases and a drastic cut in fuel export quotas hurt production at refineries. 

- Processing volumes in August were 58.35 million tonnes, or 13.74 million barrels per day (bpd), down 2.2% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. That was also less than the 13.91 million bpd in July, which was a 14-month low.

 

INVENTORIES

- Light-distillate inventories in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone dropped 14.9% to 4.9 million barrels in the week to Sept. 13, data via S&P Global Platts showed. 

- Weekly stocks in Fujairah have averaged 6.3 million barrels so far this year, and this week's inventories were about 29% lower compared with the same period a year earlier, Reuters calculations showed.

- U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels in the week to Sept. 10, according to two market sources, citing American Petroleum Institute figures. 

 

OTHER NEWS

- Oil prices climbed on Wednesday after industry data showed a larger than expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories and on expectations demand will rise as vaccination roll-outs widen.

- China's refusal to accept requests for deeper carbon emissions cuts during recent visits from the top climate envoys of the United States and Britain may undermine progress at the upcoming global climate summit in Glasgow in November, experts say.

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta; Editing by Aditya Soni) ((koustav.samanta@thomsonreuters.com)( +65 6870 3503)(Reuters Messaging: koustav.samanta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))