Gasoline stocks held independently at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub, for instance, surged 20.3 percent to reach an 8-1/2 month high of 1.276 million tonnes in the week to Dec. 27, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International showed. That was around 50 percent higher than levels a year ago. In Singapore, light distillates stocks jumped by 17.46 percent to reach a 4-1/2 month high of more than 14 million barrels in the week to Wednesday, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.
China could keep its gasoline exports high at least in the first quarter of next year as its government has granted higher export fuel quotas to domestic refiners. China's first batch of refined fuel export quotas for 2019 has been set at a total of 18.36 million tonnes or 13 percent more than the first issue for this year. The quotas comprise 8.7 million tonnes of diesel, 5.19 million tonnes of gasoline and 4.47 million tonnes of kerosene.
Asia's naphtha crack rose by more than 10 percent to reach a nearly 10-week high of $66.93 a tonne as a string of recent demand helped dissolve a glut. Nonetheless, 2018's average ended at a two-year low of $80.90 a tonne as supplies were comparatively high with more European and Mediterranean cargoes seen arriving this year versus 2017. The weak gasoline fundamentals also impacted naphtha as the latter is also used as a blending component in petrol.