Asian naphtha margins eased on Thursday as spot supply from India and Qatar weighed, while gasoline margin gains were limited by inventory gains in the United States and Asia, trade sources said. Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp is seeking naphtha for delivery in July, a tender document showed. The company is seeking 25,000 to 35,000 tonnes of heavy naphtha for delivery over July 16 to 31 in a tender that closes on June 8 and is valid until June 9.
India's Reliance Industries has sold heavy naphtha cargoes in the spot market in what traders say is an unusual move as the refiner typically sells light naphtha. It has sold three cargoes for loading over June 10 to 12, second half of June, and for early July, one of the traders said. Details of price and buyers were not immediately known.
Qatar Petroleum has offered full-range naphtha, plant condensate and Pearl gas-to-liquid (GTL) naphtha for loading in July, through its first tender since some Gulf nations imposed restrictions on cargoes going to and for Qatar, causing chaos in shipping. Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has started term negotiations to sell full-range naphtha for loading over August 2017 to July 2018, industry sources said.