GRAPHIC-Asian gasoline margin slides as Chinese barrels return

By Mohi Narayan

NEW DELHI, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Asian gasoline margins nearly halved on Friday from a record high hit at the beginning of the month, as Chinese refiners resumed fuel exports, easing immediate supply concerns, traders and analysts said.

The refining profit, or crack, for gasoline plummeted to about $24 per barrel over Brent crude from a record peak of $50.53 on October 1. However, the margin remains well above $13 a barrel recorded in October last year.

"Supply situation has improved at the prompt at least, as Chinese exports have returned," Stuti Jhunjhunwala, oil market analyst at Energy Aspects said.

"Also, refining runs in Asia, excluding China, are likely to increase in the fourth quarter, contributing to supplies", she added.

Gasoline cracks typically weaken during the winter months in the northern hemisphere due to lower demand, but a tight supply outlook due to a war in the Middle East, a Russian export ban and a few unplanned outages at regional refineries at a time when inventories were lower at key trading hubs drove margins to a record.

Restocking at key inventories like Singapore also helped ease supply concerns, even though Middle East shipments remained constrained, analysts said.

"Singapore light distillate inventories rose for a second consecutive week to a one-month high, pointing to improving product availability in Asia," LSEG Research said in a note.

Light distillate inventories, including naphtha and gasoline, rose to a one-month high of 13.806 million barrels in the week to October 14, Enterprise Singapore data showed on Thursday. O/SING1

Gasoline imports into the major trading and blending hub rose about 11% to 320,000 tons or the equivalent of 2.7 million barrels during the period, while exports were down about 23% on the week at roughly 486,000 tons.

Gasoline inflows were led by China at nearly 177,000 tons, followed by Brunei at about 64,000 tons. Outbound volumes were led by Indonesia at about 221,000 tons, followed by Malaysia at around 105,000 tons.

The price for benchmark-grade fuel also eased to $129.20 per barrel on Friday from a near seven-month high of $150.69 per barrel touched on October 1; however, they were also seasonally at a higher level.