Asia's naphtha crack edged up 2.2 percent to $92.18 a tonne on Wednesday, registering a five-week high for the third day in a row due to firm demand. Taiwan's Formosa on Tuesday bought 50,000 tonnes of naphtha at premiums of $4.50 a tonne to its own price formula on a cost-and-freight basis. The move brought its purchases of the fuel for arrival next month to about 250,000 tonnes.
It purchased up to 270,000 tonnes for July delivery previously at premiums of $8.50 and $15 respectively in two separate tenders. Kuwait offered 24,000 tonnes of light naphtha for Aug. 3-4 loading through a tender. Asia's gasoline crack rose for the fourth straight session to a three-week high of $5.29 a barrel, although this lagged margins above $10 for the same period last year.
Analysts forecast that US stockpiles of gasoline fell by about 800,000 barrels last week. US gasoline inventories had fallen by 1.5 million barrels in the week ended June 29. Indonesia's Pertamina was seeking 200,000 barrels of 92-octane gasoline for Aug. 12-14 arrival at Balikpapan through a tender closing on July 12. It had earlier sought 500,000 barrels of the same grade for August loading either from Singapore or Malaysia.