Asia's naphtha crack spread hit a five-month low on Thursday at $56.90 a tonne, as still muted spot demand from South Korea, Asia's top regional importer by volume, and higher supplies weighed. Western cargoes, including from Europe and the Mediterranean, arriving in Asia next month are expected to be higher than this month's volumes at below 950,000 tonnes.
"The market is weaker today. End users are very slow in purchasing spot cargoes," said a Singapore-based industry source. Chinese Unipec has bought a naphtha cargo for first-half July delivery at premiums in the high single-digit level to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
This was down compared with its previous purchase for a cargo bought late last week for second-half June delivery at premiums in the low teens level to Japan quotes on a C&F basis. Apart from Unipec there was no information on which other end user was in the market seeking July cargoes. Asia's gasoline crack eased 2.5 percent or 26 cents to a two-session low of $10.02 a barrel.
Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, rose nearly 9 percent to reach a two-week high of 13.24 million barrels in the week to May 17, official data showed. This came a day after gasoline stocks in the United States showed a slight decrease. But analysts viewed the drawdown in the US gasoline stocks as disappointing, as the inventories fell by just 413,000 barrels, which compared with expectations for a 731,000-barrel drop, according to a Reuters poll.
China's gasoline output in April of 10.46 million tonnes was the lowest production level since September, and the first year-on-year drop in more than two years, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. Pockets of oil-rich Venezuela were suffering gasoline shortages on Wednesday as the Opec nation's ageing refineries faced more operational problems and protests blocked some deliveries.