SINGAPORE: Asia’s naphtha crack dipped to a near one-month low on Tuesday due to ample supplies, while petrochemical margins weakened with new crackers coming online.

“Market is stable, just a bit weaker than one week ago,” a trader said, pointing to more arbitrage supplies from the Americas and weakening petrochemical margins.

South Korea’s LG Chem and GS Caltex are beginning to start trial runs in the next two weeks while Sinopec’s mixed-feed cracker at Gulei is starting up in July, consultancy FGE said.

“The ramp up of new cracking capacity around this period will lend support to demand for petrochemical feedstocks,” FGE said.

“In fact, Asia’s naphtha demand has already exceeded pre-pandemic levels.”

LG Chem issued tenders seeking naphtha for second-half July and first-half August delivery.

Hanwha Total closed a tender on Monday seeking naphtha for second-half July delivery, although the result was not immediately available.

Earlier, Lotte Chemical bought naphtha with minimum 80% paraffin content at $10 a barrel above Japan quotes for second-half July delivery, a trader said.

Qatar Petroleum issued tenders to sell two combination cargoes of light naphtha and naphtha produced from gas-to-liquid fields for July loading from Ras Laffan, he added.

Taiwan’s gasoline exports were at 1.10 million barrels in April, down 8.4% from the previous month, government data showed on Tuesday.

Traders from Exxon Mobil Corp’s natural gas liquids and gasoline units have left, according to three people familiar with the matter, the latest in a stream of departures from its downsized trading operations.