SINGAPORE, May 20 (Reuters) - The Asian naphtha price rose on Monday to reach $875.75 a
tonne, the highest since May 10, while its margin hit a four-session high of $93.50 a tonne on
spot and term demand.
South Korea's top ethylene maker Lotte Chemical issued a tender to buy an additional 25,000
tonnes of naphtha for second-half June arrival at Daesan, surprising some traders as most had
expected the petrochemical maker to have completed its purchases for second-half June.
The premium for the cargo was around $9 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F)
basis. Some traders said the grade was likely full-range naphtha, but this could not be
immediately confirmed.
Lotte Chemical was said to be seeking another 25,000 tonnes of naphtha for first-half July
arrival at Yeosu, but no details were available.
Its Malaysia-based unit Titan also issued a tender seeking up to 130,000 tonnes of naphtha
for July 2013 to June 2014 delivery.
The tender closes on May 23, with offers to stay valid until May 31.
* NAPHTHA TENDERS: India's ONGC sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for June 4-5 loading from
Mumbai to Shell at a premium of about $25 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB)
basis, down 39 percent from a previous deal for a May cargo.
- It's subsidiary MRPL on the other hand sold 35,000 tonnes for June 24-26 loading from New
Mangalore to Unipec at a premium of about $31 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis.
* REFINERY NEWS: Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Co (Samref), a joint venture between Saudi
Aramco and ExxonMobil, has reduced throughput at its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Yanbu plant
after a fire at a pipe, but exact cuts in operational rates were not clear.
- Traders said production had to be cut after the incident as a vacuum distillation unit
(VDU) pump could have been affected.
- The outage at the plant came as stockpiling of gasoline takes place in Saudi Arabia a
month ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in July. [See volumes under gasoline section]
- India's Reliance Industries has restarted a 330,000 bpd crude unit on Monday following a
brief shutdown last week, traders said.
GASOLINE CRACK RECOVERS
The Asian gasoline margin recovered marginally to reach a two-session high of $8.02 a barrel
as seasonal peak demand ahead help lifted sentiment.
Gasoline deals in the Singapore cash market resumed after an absence of trades on May 17.
Saudi Arabia's gasoline imports are expected to be around 4.5 million barrels in June, which
is about 45 percent higher than the same period last year, traders added.
Refinery outages and maintenance have pushed its demand upwards, traders.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Five deals, of which four were on gasoline.
- Gunvor sold a 95-octane gasoline cargo for June 9-13 loading to Glencore at $115.05 a
barrel.
- Shell sold three 92-octane gasoline cargoes, one of which was to SK Energy for June 9-13
loading at $112 a barrel.
- The other two cargoes, one of which was for June 4-8 and another for June 9-13 loading at
$112.60 a barrel and $112.30 a barrel respectively were both sold to Vitol.
- But Shell bought a first-half July/second-half July spread deal from Glencore at $4.75 a
tonne.
LIGHT DISTILLATES
CASH ($/T) ASIA Change % Change Prev RIC
CLOSE Close
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 875.75 8.00 0.92 867.75 (NAF-1H-TYO)
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 866.50 8.00 0.93 858.50 (NAF-2H-TYO)
OSN Naphtha Diff 9.25 0.00 0.00 9.25 (NAF-TYO-DIF)
Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 94.80 0.91 0.97 93.89 (NAF-SIN)
Naphtha Diff FOB Sing 1.50 -0.09 -5.66 1.59 (NAF-SIN-DIF)
Naphtha-Brent Crack 93.50 4.62 5.20 88.88 (NAF-SIN-CRK)
Gasoline 97 117.70 0.38 0.32 117.32 (GL97-SIN)
Gasoline 95 115.05 0.35 0.31 114.70 (GL95-SIN)
Gasoline 92 112.30 0.60 0.54 111.70 (GL92-SIN)
Gasoline crack 8.00 0.15 1.91 7.85 (GL92-SIN-CRK)
SWAPS ($/T) ASIA Change % Change Prev RIC
CLOSE Close
(0830
GMT)
Brent M1 104.35 0.59 0.57 103.76
Naphtha CFR Japan M1 863.00 7.50 0.88 855.50
Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2 5.25 1.50 40.00 3.75
Naphtha CFR Japan M2 857.75 6.00 0.70 851.75
Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback 19.25 0.75 4.05 18.50
M1
Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback 18.50 -3.00 -13.95 21.50
M2
Naphtha FOB Sing M1 93.75 0.75 0.81 93.00
Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2 0.50 -0.25 -33.33 0.75
Naphtha FOB Sing M2 93.25 1.00 1.08 92.25
Naphtha Cracks M1 -9.04 0.08 -0.88 -9.12
East-West Naphtha M1 16.75 -0.50 -2.90 17.25
East-West Naphtha M2 16.25 -1.25 -7.14 17.50
NWE Naphtha M1 846.25 8.00 0.95 838.25
NWE Naphtha M1/M2 4.75 0.75 18.75 4.00
NWE Naphtha M2 841.50 7.25 0.87 834.25
Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1 -10.85 0.22 -1.99 -11.07
Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2 -11.18 0.08 -0.71 -11.26
*Sing refers to Singapore
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Alison Birrane)
