NEW DELHI- Asia's gasoline crack slipped below $7 a barrel on Monday, while a series of trades at the window lifted prices for the benchmark 92-octane grade.
The crack eased to $6.73 per barrel, hitting a two-week low, from $7.46 on Friday.
Adding optimism to demand sentiment, there were eight deals in physical markets, of which six were for the benchmark grade and two were for the higher 95-octane grade of the fuel. PTT and Vitol bought three cargoes each, while Unipec purchased one cargo.
"While we have long held a bullish oil view, the current global supply-demand deficit is larger than we expected, with the recovery in global demand from the Delta impact even faster than our above-consensus forecast and with global supply remaining short of our below consensus forecasts," Goldman Sachs said in a note dated Sept. 26.
Meanwhile, the naphtha crack in the region remained little changed at $135.33 a tonne from $135.08 in the last session.
In the markets, PetroDiamond purchased a first-half December loading cargo of naphtha.
NEWS
- Global oil demand is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by early next year as the economy recovers, although spare refining capacity could weigh on the outlook, producers and traders said at an industry conference on Monday.
- Oil prices rose for a fifth straight day on Monday with Brent at its highest since October 2018 and heading for $80 amid supply concerns as demand picks up in parts of the world with the easing of pandemic restrictions.
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((Mohi.Narayan@thomsonreuters.com;))
