Asian naphtha crack down

The Asian naphtha crack plummeted 27.4 percent to hit a near three-week low of $28.55 a tonne due to a lack of buying interest on Tuesday and massive supplies. Hefty supplies looked set to stay from now through February unless prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) become costlier and prompt European crackers to switch to naphtha.
But some traders pointed out that the cold season is almost over, and this could limit any upside on prices of LPG, which is also used for heating. Singapore's light distillates onshore stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blendstocks for gasoline, slipped 2.4 percent or 268,000 barrels to reach a six-week low of 10.823 million barrels in the week to December 29, official data showed. But the average for the month at 11.059 million barrels versus December 2013 at 10.415 million barrels reflected that current stocks now were higher.