Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha backwardation widens, prices firm

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Asia's naphtha market structure widened to its steepest backwardation since August, while prices traded firm above $1,000 per metric ton as Gulf exports remained constrained and inventories at key trading hubs declined, traders said.

The backwardation between first-half December and first-half January cargoes climbed to $40.25 a ton. The crack eased to about $197 per ton over Brent crude.

In the gasoline market, the spread between the benchmark grade and 95-octane grade fuel hovered at multi-month low of 58 cents for most of this week.

In tenders, Taiwan's FPCC sold 500,000 barrels of gasoline for November loading at a premium, market participants said.

SINGAPORE INVENTORIES O/SING1

Light distillate inventories, including naphtha and gasoline, fell to a three-week low of 10.971 million barrels in the week, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

Naphtha total imports fell about 29% on week to around 122,000 metric tons (~1.09 million barrels), as no shipments from the Middle East or India arrived. The top supplier was Russia at 74,000 tons. Singapore did not export naphtha in the week.

Gasoline imports tanked by about 61% to 125,000 tons (about 1.06 million barrels) during the period, while exports climbed about 49% on week to roughly 724,000 tons.

NEWS

- Oil giant Saudi Aramco has instructed staff to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran and work remotely, six people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

- India's imports of Middle Eastern crude oil surged in September, returning to pre-war levels, while its refiners cut back purchases of Russian oil amid stiff competition with China, ship tracking data showed.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

One gasoline trade.

PRICES