Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline margins dip on lower demand; MRPL offers second-half Oct reformate

Oct 7 (Reuters) - Asia's gasoline margins dipped on Monday, as concerns around demand to linger due to high regional inventories.

The crack fell to $3.20 per barrel over Brent crude, from $4.15 on Friday.

Saudi Aramco emerged as the biggest seller in the window yet again, selling 75% of the total number of 92-gasoline barrels that were traded during the session.

China's Oct. 1-7 Golden Week holidays are expected to drive demand for gasoline with a projected 1.94 billion inter-city trips, up 0.7% on-year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

However, the rise in demand over this period is likely to be lower in comparison to last year given the rapid take-up of electric vehicles, an LSEG report said.

Asia's net gasoline exports declined to a 15-month low of 3.43 million metric tons in September, down from August's 3.5 million tons and below the year-to-date monthly average of 4 million tons, a report from LSEG said.

Traders said that along with the increased regional gasoline inventories, there could be a further weakening in demand, which would likely cap the upside to Asian gasoline benchmarks.

In tenders, India's MRPL was offering 75,000 metric tons of reformate for Oct. 26-27 loading, the company's website showed. The tender closes on Oct. 7.

In naphtha, the crack dipped by $4.63 to $117.75 per metric ton over Brent crude.

NEWS

* Oil prices fell on Monday, after posting their steepest weekly rise in more than a year last week, as oversupply concerns amid softer demand countered the worries over a wider Middle East conflict disrupting exports in the key oil-producing region.

* Shell's refining profit margins dropped sharply in the third quarter by nearly 30% to $5.5 a barrel in the three months to the end of September from $7.7 a barrel in the previous period.

* Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has raised the November price for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia to its highest levels since July.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Four gasoline deals and no naphtha trades

PRICES

CASH ASIA CLOSE Change Prev Close RIC

OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 710.25 1.00 709.25

($/mt)

OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 705.00 1.00 704.00

($/mt)

OSN Naphtha Diff ($/mt) 5.25 0.00 5.25 <NAF-TYO-DIF

>

Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 76.92 0.16 76.76

($/bbl)

Naphtha Diff FOB Sing 0.40 0.00 0.40 <NAF-SIN-DIF

>

Naphtha-Brent Crack 117.75 -4.63 122.38 <NAF-SIN-CRK

($/mt) >

Gasoline 97 ($/bbl) 86.14 -0.20 86.34

Gasoline 95 ($/bbl) 86.70 -0.20 86.90

Gasoline 92 ($/bbl) 82.20 -0.20 82.40

Gasoline crack ($/bbl) 3.20 -0.95 4.15 <GL92-SIN-CR

K>

For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please double click the

RICs below.

Brent M1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2

Naphtha CFR Japan M2

Naphtha Japan-Sing

Netback M1

Naphtha Japan-Sing

Netback M2

Naphtha FOB Sing M1

Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2

Naphtha FOB Sing M2

Naphtha Cracks M1

East-West Naphtha M1

East-West Naphtha M2

NWE Naphtha M1

NWE Naphtha M1/M2

NWE Naphtha M2

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent

M1

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent

M2

*Sing refers to

Singapore

(Reporting by Haridas; Editing by Varun H K)

((Haridas.X@thomsonreuters.com;))