Singapore gasoline exports to Indonesia jump ahead of Ramadan

Indonesia has boosted imports of gasoline by about 32% in February ahead of the Ramadan festival in March, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

Asia’s biggest motor fuel buyer has raised its imports of the fuel from Singapore to about 744,000 tonnes in February so far, compared with a monthly average of about 565,000 tonnes in the past three months, the data showed.

In the same period of February last year Indonesia bought only 313,000 tonnes of gasoline.

Traders said the Southeast Asian country could be stocking up ahead of the Ramadan holiday period.

Robust demand from Indonesia amid tight supplies from China have propelled Asian gasoline profit margins to a premium of $11.94 a barrel over Brent crude, from a discount of about $4 a barrel in October last year.

Indonesian gasoline consumption and imports could hit record highs this year as the nation recovers from COVID-related travel curbs, though the growth rate is expected to dip as the economy slows.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan in New Delhi and Matthew Chye in Singapore Editing by David Goodman)