Asia's naphtha crack for front-month first-half May extended gains on Thursday for the third straight session to reach its highest in a month at $72.35 a tonne, with traders citing fewer Western cargoes as a reason. Asia is still grappling with ample supplies as the monthly average of Western cargoes arriving in first quarter and Indian exports for January to March have been higher than usual.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) was thought to be seeking second-half April and first-half May naphtha cargoes through a tender closing on Friday, traders said. This could not be directly confirmed as the Chinese firm does not comment on its deals. But South Korea, Asia's top importer of naphtha as a country, has not yet issued any tenders to buy first-half May cargoes.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has sold 27,000 tonnes of naphtha for April 9-11 loading from Chennai to Gunvor at a premium of about $1.50 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said. This was in sharp contrast to the discount of $7 a tonne for a cargo sold for end-March loading from the same port. But neither the price for the April Chennai cargo nor the buyer's identity could be confirmed as IOC and Gunvor do not comment on their transactions.