Refiners’ profits from making naphtha fell on signs that gasoline demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel, is slowing. Processing losses from fuel oil narrowed, while profits from gasoil rose. Light Distillates September swaps for naphtha, a petrochemicals and gasoline feedstock, dropped $18.25, or 1.9 percent, to $946.50 a metric ton, at 11:12 a.m. Singapore time, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a broker. The crack spread, a measure of the refining margin for processing Brent crude into the fuel, declined to $104.73 a ton from $117.36 at the end of Asian trading on Sept. 2, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Gasoline futures in New York fell after a report showed U.S. employers added no jobs in August, increasing concern that slowing economic growth will reduce fuel demand. The October contract dropped 16 cents to $2.8241 a gallon at 11:35 a.m. Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices declined for the third day, the longest losing streak since the seven days to Sept. 4. “The 2011 U.S. driving season is drawing to a close,” Paul Horsnell and Amrita Sen, London-based analysts at Barclays Plc, said in a note to clients dated Sept. 2. The bank said U.S. gasoline demand fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier during the driving season, which typically stretches from the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May to Labor Day in September. Middle Distillates October swaps for gasoil fell 5 cents to $126.39 a barrel, PVM data showed. Jet fuel’s premium to gasoil, or the regrade, declined 15 cents to $1.70 a barrel, PVM data showed. The narrower spread signaled reduced profits from making aviation fuel over diesel. Gasoil’s premium to Dubai crude, a measure of processing profit for the fuel, rose $2.04, or 11 percent, to $20.22 a barrel, the highest in more than three weeks. Fuel Oil Fuel oil’s discount to Dubai crude shrank to $4.98 a barrel from $7.07 on Aug. 2, PVM data showed. The spread narrowed for the first time in eight trading sessions, ending the longest period of declining margins since September 2009. High-sulfur fuel-oil swaps were unchanged at $657.75 a ton, PVM data showed. The premium of 180-centistoke fuel oil to the 380- centistoke grade was at $10.25, unchanged from last week. The viscosity spread has gained from $8 a ton a week earlier, signaling that prices power-generation fuel have risen more than shipping fuel. To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net.

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