Steady demand helped Asia's naphtha crack recover marginally to $57.50 a tonne from a five-month low hit in the previous session. Hanwha Total was among the first in South Korea to issue a tender to buy naphtha for first-half July naphtha. It paid premiums in the low single-digit levels to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
This came a few days after Chinese Unipec had paid high single-digit level premiums to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis for a naphtha cargo scheduled for delivery to China in the first half of July. Malaysia-based Titan could also be looking to buy naphtha. India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has cancelled an offer for 30,000 tonnes of naphtha loading from Hazira on June 2-3 due to domestic demand.
Reliance Industries has sold 55,000 tonnes for June loading from Sikka at premiums in the high single-digit levels to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis to an Asian buyer. This was down compared with an average of nearly $15-a-tonne premium it had fetched for three 55,000-tonne cargoes sold for May loading. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has also sold a June cargo at premiums of $5 to $6 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis. Asia's gasoline margin was at a four-session high of $10.50 a barrel. US gasoline demand has been weaker than expected this year, but a growing economy and relatively cheap pump prices have the energy industry expecting record demand again this summer. Naphtha stocks held independently in Europe's Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub fell 7.08 percent to 341,000 tonnes in the week to May 18, but this was still more than double the inventories from a year ago, data from consultants PJK International showed.
Comments
Comments are closed.