Asia Naphtha-Oil major BP buys ONGC naphtha after absence

SINGAPORE, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Oil major BP Plc (LSE: BP.L - news) has bought a March naphtha cargo from India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), traders said on Friday, its first naphtha purchase from the refiner in over six months, Thomson Reuters (Frankfurt: TOC.F - news) data showed.

BP paid slightly below $29 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for the 35,000-tonne cargo for March 6-7 lifting from Hazira.

The premium reflected a marginal increase for ONGC which had recently sold a cargo for Feb. 20-21 loading from the same port to Gunvor at a premium of about $28.

BP last bought a cargo from ONGC for July 11-12 loading, but from the Mumbai port.

Its most recent purchase of an Indian cargo through tender was from Indian Oil Corp (IOC) for a November 2013 cargo.

Separately, ONGC's subsidiary MRPL sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for March 14-16 loading from New Mangalore to Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) at a premium of about $26 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis, down by about 26 percent in value compared to a cargo MRPL sold to Marubeni (Dusseldorf: MARA.DU - news) for March 10-12 loading.

Asia's naphtha sentiment has been weakening due to increasing supplies and with some buyers such as Formosa (Taiwan OTC: 8171.TWO - news) replacing a small portion of their naphtha feedstock with cheaper liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).