Asia's naphtha crack jumped 11 percent to reach a three-week high of $73.73 a tonne on Thursday, lifted by strong gasoline demand and lower crude oil prices, traders said. Fundamentally, naphtha supplies were ample and sellers continued to release cargoes at discounted prices. South Korea's LG Chem paid discounts of about $1.50 to $2.00 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis for naphtha delivering to Daesan and Yeosu in first-half February.
This was within the levels paid by YNCC and Lotte Chemical this week for first-half February cargoes. "The stronger naphtha crack today could be due to gasoline and crude," said a Singapore-based trader. Demand for gasoline within and outside Asia was strong, causing supply to tighten, traders said.
The Asian gasoline crack rose over $10 a barrel as a result, making this the highest level since November 24. Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, edged down to reach a one-month low of about 12 million barrels in the week to December 21, official data showed. The new weekly level was 11.3 percent, or 1.5 million barrels, lower than a year ago.
Gasoline stocks in the US were also down. China imported nearly 500,000 tonnes of naphtha in November, making this its highest monthly imports since June at over 630,000 tonnes, official data showed. But the new data reflected a 16 percent fall in volumes when compared to a year ago. India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for January 27-28 loading from Mumbai to Glencore at premiums below $7 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said. ONGC had previously sold a cargo for December loading from the same port to Vitol at a higher premium of above $8 a tonne.
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