SINGAPORE, April 19 (Reuters) - The Asian naphtha price of
$836.50a tonne was 2.6 percent lower than a week ago on Friday,
while its margin was at a three-session low of $88.53 a tonne
after a brief recovery in the last three sessions.
Traders said overall ample supply was still a concern and
will take time to resolve despite some unexpected buying
interest this week for second-half May cargoes from South Korea.
"There's some hope for naphtha to improve if refinery run
cuts happen," said a trader. "For now, demand for naphtha used
in gasoline blending is on-off (in Europe) and the use of gas
feedstock is still more economical for crackers than naphtha."
Liquefied petroleum gas can be used to replace 5 to 15
percent of naphtha in some of Asia's petrochemical units.
* NAPHTHA TENDERS: India's ONGC sold 35,000 tonnes of
naphtha for May 2-3 loading from Mumbai to Japan's Marubeni at a
premium of about $41 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a
free-on-board (FOB) basis.
- This was the lowest premium it had fetched in about four
months for a cargo sold out of Mumbai.
- ONGC also exports naphtha from Hazira.
- Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) sold 11,000 tonnes of
naphtha, suitable for gasoline blending, for May 6-10 lifting
from Haldia to Glencore at premiums in the low $20s a tonne
level to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis.
- This was down nearly 48 percent from a sale of a March
cargo to Unipec. It is unclear if BPCL had sold any cargoes out
of Haldia for April lifting.
GASOLINE AT 2-1/2 WEEK HIGH
The Asian gasoline margin rose for the sixth
straight-session to reach a 2-1/2 week high of $8.47 a barrel as
firm demand from the Singapore-based traders supported the
market.
There were five gasoline deals done in total, highest in
about a week.
Vitol was seen buying another cargo, bringing its total
purchases of May cargoes since April 12 to thirteen.
The total volumes were 700,000 barrels or about 83,000
tonnes.
India's Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in
the mean time has sold its first spot gasoline cargo in about
six months.
The 25,000-tonne gasoline for May 28-30 loading from New
Mangalore could have been sold to Total at a premium within the
$1.50-$1.60 a barrel to Middle East quotes 95-octane quote on a
free-on-board (FOB) basis although this could not be immediately
confirmed.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Five gasoline deals but none on
naphtha for the second straight day.
- Shell bought a total of three cargoes and Vitol bought
two.
- Shell bought from Trafigura a 95-octane gasoline cargo for
May 7-11 loading at $111.60 a barrel.
- It bought another 95-octane gasoline cargo for May 5-9
loading from PetroChina at $111.80 a barrel.
- The oil major further bought a 97-octane gasoline cargo
from PetroChina for May 4-8 loading at $116.20 a barrel.
- But Shell sold to Vitol a 92-octane gasoline cargo for May
4-8 loading at $108.00 a barrel.
- Vitol bought another 92-octane gasoline cargo for May 4-8
loading at $108.20 a barrel, but from Total.
LIGHT DISTILLATES
CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC
Close
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 836.50 8.00 0.97 828.50 (NAF-1H-TYO)
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 823.00 8.00 0.98 815.00 (NAF-2H-TYO)
OSN Naphtha Diff 13.50 0.00 0.00 13.50 (NAF-TYO-DIF)
Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 89.95 0.97 1.09 88.98 (NAF-SIN)
Naphtha Diff FOB Sing 2.15 0.47 27.98 1.68 (NAF-SIN-DIF)
Naphtha-Brent Crack 88.53 -4.97 -5.32 93.50 (NAF-SIN-CRK)
Gasoline 97 116.20 3.34 2.96 112.86 (GL97-SIN)
Gasoline 95 111.80 2.40 2.19 109.40 (GL95-SIN)
Gasoline 92 108.20 2.10 1.98 106.10 (GL92-SIN)
Gasoline crack 8.47 0.37 4.57 8.10 (GL92-SIN-CRK)
SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev RIC
(0830 GMT) Close
Naphtha CFR Japan M1 818.25 7.25 0.89 811.00
Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2 4.25 0.25 6.25 4.00
Naphtha CFR Japan M2 814.00 7.00 0.87 807.00
Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1 17.25 0.50 2.99 16.75
Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2 19.75 0.25 1.28 19.50
Naphtha FOB Sing M1 89.00 0.75 0.85 88.25
Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2 0.75 0.00 0.00 0.75
Naphtha FOB Sing M2 88.25 0.75 0.86 87.50
Naphtha Cracks M1 -9.21 -0.90 10.83 -8.31
East-West Naphtha M1 23.25 -1.75 -7.00 25.00
East-West Naphtha M2 20.25 -0.75 -3.57 21.00
NWE Naphtha M1 795.00 9.00 1.15 786.00
NWE Naphtha M1/M2 1.25 1.25 NA NA CNWEASMc1>
NWE Naphtha M2 793.75 7.75 0.99 786.00
Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1 -11.46 -0.81 7.61 -10.65
Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2 -11.44 -0.64 5.93 -10.80
*Sing refers to Singapore
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng, editing by William Hardy)
