SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack hit a 2-1/2 month high of $48.05 a tonne on Friday lifted by rare westbound trades while gasoline's crack was unchanged at $8.84 a barrel after it rose to a 3-1/2 month high in the previous session.
At least one medium-range size tanker and two long-range 1 (LR1) vessels carrying naphtha of Middle Eastern and Indian origin totalling over 140,000 tonnes had already landed in Northwest Europe, traders said.
More westbound cargoes are expected as at least three more tankers, including Navig8 Excel and BW Shinano were placed on provisional booking for October arrival from Rabigh.
"Light naphtha is suffering in Asia with huge discounts while European premiums are quite solid especially if they can use the grade as a blending component for gasoline", said a Singapore-based industry source.
However, naphtha's strength could be capped unless Asia is able to purge a sharply higher amount of cargoes.
This however is unlikely as supplies are expected to increase given that Qatar Petroleum, South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank and Taiwan's CPC each have a new condensate splitter, traders said.
The bulk of the oil products yield from a condensate splitter is naphtha.
OTHER NEWS: Japan's monthly naphtha imports for the petrochemical sector jumped 10.8 percent or 110,529 tonnes to 1.13 million tonnes in August versus July, official data showed.
- Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil hub dropped by 20 percent or 193,000 tonnes to 765,000 tonnes in the week to Thursday, Dutch consultancy PJK International said.
- This was in line with a stock drawn in Singapore where its onshore light distillates stocks, comprising mostly gasoline and blending components for the motor fuel, fell to their lowest since Nov. 11 2015.
TENDERS: Sinochem offered 48,000 tonnes of 92-octane grade gasoline with 10 ppm sulphur content of for Oct. 19-21 loading from Quanzhou through a tender closing on Sept. 19.
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