SINGAPORE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Asian gas oil strengthened on Friday, as the front-month crack spread rose to a 1-1/2 week high above $17, lifted by the prospect of Indonesia buying more cargoes for October delivery. The October/November timespread, which turned prompt on Friday, eased from an over five-month high to 50 cents a barrel, down 5 cents. Hin Leong's continued buying in the physical spot market further supported cash differentials for gas oil's 0.5 percent sulphur grade, which hit a five-month peak on Thursday. The trader bought another 150,000 barrels of the high-sulphur grade at 50 cents a barrel, bringing its total purchases to 2.5 million barrels this month. However, a lower bid by Shell at 40 cents a barrel narrowed the cash premium by 5 cents to 45 cents a barrel. "The market still has a lot of supplies, but Indonesia is helping to soak some of that up," said a Singapore-based distillates trader. Traders said Indonesia could be looking for up to 5 million barrels of gas oil with 0.35 percent sulphur for October delivery due to an outage at its Dumai refinery. Regional supplies are expected to pick up again once Taiwan's Formosa resumes regular exports from its recently restarted refinery in Mailiao in October, traders said. In tender news, India's MRPL sold 40,000 barrels of 0.25 percent sulphur gas oil to Trafigura for Oct 15-17 loading at a premium of $1.50 to Middle East spot quotes, higher than earlier deals, traders said. Trading activity was steady in the swaps market, with at least 250,000 barrels of the gas oil October swap done at $126.10 a barrel. However, no timespread contracts changed hands. * SWAPS OUTRIGHTS: Gas oil's October swap rose $3.60 to $126.25 a barrel, while the November swap gained $3.25 to $125.75 a barrel. - Jet fuel swaps for October was up $3.18 to $127.55, while the October regrade, or the difference between jet and diesel prices, was down 43 cents to $1.30. * CRACKS: Gas oil's crack for October rose 56 cents to $17.52 a barrel over Dubai crude. - Jet fuel's October crack climbed 13 cents to $18.82 a barrel. * CASH DIFFERENTIALS: The differential for gas oil with 0.5 percent sulphur eased 5 cents to a premium of 45 cents a barrel, while the premium for the 0.25 percent also lost 5 cents to $1.20. The 0.05 percent sulphur grade was down 10 cents to $2.25. - Jet fuel's cash discount was steady at 40 cents. * PHYSICAL OUTRIGHTS: Benchmark diesel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 percent was $3.45 higher at $126.80 a barrel, while jet fuel rose $3.30 to $127.20. * CASH DEALS: Two 0.5 percent sulphur gas oil deals, no jet fuel trades. - Hin Leong bought 150,000 barrels of gas oil from BP for Oct 1-5 lifting at a premium of 50 cents to Singapore spot quotes. - ConocoPhillips sold 150,000 barrels of 10-ppm sulphur gas oil to BP at a premium of $3.00 a barrel for Oct 6-10 loading. PRODUCT RIC BID ASK MEAN PREV CHG % CHG Jet/Kero JET-SIN 127.00 127.4 127.2 123.9 +3.30 +2.66 0 0 0 Gas Oil 0.5% GO-SIN 126.60 127.0 126.8 123.3 +3.45 +2.80 0 0 5 Gas Oil GO25-SIN 127.35 127.7 127.5 124.1 +3.45 +2.78 0.25% 5 5 0 Gas Oil GO005-SIN 128.40 128.8 128.6 125.1 +3.45 +2.76 0.05% 0 0 5 Jet/Kero JET-SIN-DIF -0.50 -0.30 -0.40 -0.40 0.00 0.00 Diff GO 0.005 GO005-SIN-DI 2.20 2.30 2.25 2.35 -0.10 -4.26 Diff F GO 0.25 Diff GO25-SIN-DIF 1.10 1.30 1.20 1.25 -0.05 -4.00 GO 0.5 Diff GO-SIN-DIF 0.35 0.55 0.45 0.50 -0.05 -10.0 0 GO Swap M1 GOSGSWMc1 126.2 122.6 +3.60 +2.94 5 5 GO Swap M2 GOSGSWMc2 125.7 122.5 +3.25 +2.65 5 0 (Reporting by Francis Kan; editing by James Jukwey)

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