Asian naphtha cracks fall to five-week low

Asia's naphtha crack fell on Friday to a five-week low of $94.13 a tonne, weighed down by high supplies and slower demand. Cargoes arriving in Asia next month from the West, including European and the Mediterranean, are estimated at 1.3 million tonnes, similar to August arrivals, according to trade and shipping sources and a report by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.
Traders said this could rise to at least 1.4 million to 1.5 million tonnes because of abundant western supplies. The weak fundamentals, however, provide an opportunity for buyers to lock in term cargoes, traders said. Both South Korea's LG Chem and YNCC were looking this week to buy cargoes for a long-term contract starting November.
LG Chem's tender has closed but the results were not known. YNCC's term tender closes next week. YNCC has two existing term contracts expiring in March and August next year. These were sealed this year in February and June respectively at premiums of $1 and $6 a tonne to Japan quotes cost and freight (C&F).
KPIC on Thursday bought spot naphtha for delivery in the first half of October at a premium of $3 a tonne to Japan quotes C&F. On July 10 it paid a premium between $6 and $7 a tonne for delivery in the second half of August. Asia's gasoline crack, at $8.30 a barrel, was at its lowest since August 7 because of plentiful supplies.
The stocks drawdown in Europe did not affect the Asian market because it was offset by a build in US inventories. Gasoline stocks held independently at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell 14.3 percent in the week to Thursday to 772,000 tonnes, the lowest for nearly 10 months, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International showed.
This was also below inventories from a year ago at 878,000 tonnes, the data showed. Gasoline stocks in the United States, however, rose by 1.2 million barrels in contrast with expectations for a drop of 488,000 barrels in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Japan's JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy raised the capacity of a continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) platforming unit at its 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) Marifu refinery by 3,000 bpd to 27,000 bpd from August 3. The CCR unit uses naphtha as feedstock to produce high-octane gasoline. Brazil's Petrobras will partially reopen its largest refinery, Replan, on Friday after an explosion at the site last Monday. Par Pacific Holdings was shutting its 93,500 bpd Kapolei refinery in Hawaii because of the approaching Hurricane Lane.