Asia's naphtha crack rose back above $100 on Thursday and was at its highest since September 25 in response to strong demand. On Wednesday, it had fallen to nearly a three-week low of $91.18 a tonne. South Korea's GS Caltex on Wednesday bought around three cargoes of heavy full-range naphtha for second-half November delivery at premiums of $4.50 to $5.00 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
This was higher than premiums of $2.00 to $4.00 a tonne GS Caltex had bought on September 20 for first-half November delivery. Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) was in talks with its buyers to renew a 12-month naphtha contract starting December 2017. Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blendstock for the fuel, rose by 9.05 percent to reach a five-week high of 11.9 million barrels in the week to October 4, official data showed.
Singapore has shipped nearly 35,000 tonnes of gasoline to Mexico, bringing Singapore's total petrol shipment to Mexico between Aug, 24 and October 4 to about 175,000 tonnes as the country needed to fill a supply gap caused by a temporary shutdown of a refinery. In the United States, gasoline inventories were also higher, having risen last week by 1.6 million barrels, according to data from Energy Information Administration (EIA), compared with analyst expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel gain.
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