Asia's naphtha hits near 2-week high

Asia's naphtha crack rose for a fifth straight session on Wednesday to reach $123.55 a tonne, its highest level since Nov. 29, amid a persistent supply crunch.

Malaysia-based Titan bought naphtha for second-half January arrival at Pasir Gudang at premiums above $20 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis in view of tight supplies, industry sources said.

Titan had on Nov. 8 paid premiums in the low teens a tonne level for a second-half December cargo, they added.

Formosa was also seeking naphtha this week but for Jan. 21-31 arrival at Mailiao.

India's BPCL offered 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for Dec. 27-28 loading from Mumbai through a tender due to be awarded on Thursday.

It had on Friday sold two cargoes for December loading from Kochi at premiums of up to $51.50 and $60.50 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

This was slightly below the record premiums it had received in 2013 at $61, Reuters data showed. Taiwan's CPC has sold 55,000 barrels of gasoline cargo for first-half January loading from Kaohsiung at premiums of more than $2.50 a barrel to Singapore quotes on a FOB basis last week, industry sources said. This is CPC's first gasoline export in more than three months as an extended maintenance at a gasoline-making unit from September to November had curbed production.

Industry monitor Genscape said on Monday that Royal Dutch Shell's 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude unit (CD6) at its Pernis refinery in Rotterdam had restarted a day after shutting down. France's CGT union will decide next week whether to declare an unlimited strike at oil refineries, including potential production shut down mid next week if unions decide to harden that stance in the ongoing protest over planned pension reform.