Asia's naphtha crack rose for the fifth straight session on Tuesday to reach slightly over a three-month high of $80.05 a tonne while gasoline crack was at seventh-session high of $11.49 a barrel supported by a refinery outage in the Netherlands. Most of the units at the 404,000 barrels per day Pernis oil refinery in Rotterdam operated by Royal Dutch Shell were shut following a power supply fire.
"Shell Pernis is a catalyst behind the stronger market," said a Singapore-based trader. Taiwan's CPC bought full-range naphtha for September arrival at a premium of about $1 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. Spot prices in South Korea, Asia's top naphtha importer by volumes, were in discounts last month for cargoes scheduled for first half August to first-half September delivery.
Analysts forecast that stockpiles of US gasoline USOILG=ECI declined 1.1 million barrels in the week ended July 28, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. Indian refiners are outperforming their competitors in South Korea and Thailand as they have ramped up output from new fuel and chemical capacities to meet rising domestic demand.
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