However, Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, fell 9.3% or 948,000 barrels to a near five-year low of 9.2 million barrels in the week to July 24, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. This mirrored the trend in the United States where gasoline inventories fell by 226,000 barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
Asia's naphtha crack snapped four straight sessions of declines to trade at $29.43 a tonne on Friday, pulling off this week's low of $27.15 a tonne hit on Thursday. The naphtha crack was at $31.50 a tonne at the start of the week.
Ample naphtha supplies as well as stiff competition from low prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), an alternative petrochemical feedstock, have weighed on naphtha market sentiment. South Korea's Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co Ltd's naphtha cracker in the southwestern city of Daesan has been shut due to power outages following a lightning strike, a company spokesman said on Friday.
Power was restored about 1-1/2 hours after the lightning strike occurred around 9:30 am. (0030 GMT), the spokesman said. The petrochemical maker's sole naphtha cracker is expected to resume operations in about two days, he added. The cracker can produce 1 million tonnes of ethylene per year, and its capacity will be raised by at least 30% to 1.31 million tonnes annually within this year.
Chinese independent oil refiners are snapping up crude cargoes from Russia, Oman, Africa and Brazil for delivery in September-October as they ramp up operations after refining margins turned positive in July, trade and refining sources said. Strong buying interest from the refiners, also known as "teapots", drove up spot premiums for grades such as Russian ESPO, Oman, Brazil's Lula and Angolan crude, that they typically purchase, two Singapore-based oil traders said.