Asia's naphtha crack rose for the fourth straight session on Tuesday towards a five-month high of $115.45 a tonne on the back of strong demand, while the gasoline crack was at a 5-1/2 month high of $9.91 a barrel. Asia's demand for naphtha in general has been firm but shipments from the Middle East in May were seen below the monthly average while incoming Western cargoes arriving in June were also below the monthly average. Overall exports from India, a key exporter of light distillates, were lower last month due likely to refinery maintenance.
Its naphtha exports at 550,000 tonnes, for instance, were at their lowest level monthly since February 2017, official data showed. Gasoline exports from India last month at 920,000 tonnes were not only 24 percent lower than March but were also the lowest in more than three years. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for June 8-10 loading from Chennai at premiums of over $30 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis but this could not be independently confirmed as the refiner does not usually comment on its deals.
It was also unclear if IOC has sold any cargoes out of Chennai for May loading but it had previously sold a cargo from Chennai for April 21-23 loading to Vitol, also at more than $30 a tonne premium.
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