SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack hit a two-week low of $75.20 a tonne but gasoline crack rose after eight straight sessions of losses to reach a two-session high of $7.61 a barrel.
A fire at Taiwan's CPC 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) Taoyuan refinery over the weekend is expected to disrupt gasoline production.
The intensity of the impact on gasoline would, however, depend on how fast CPC is able to restore normal runs, traders said.
At present, the impact is not extensive due to ample supplies although demand for European and US gasoline was seen higher recently.
In the US for instance, gasoline stockpiles are expected to have fallen by 2.1 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
In Europe, trading liquidity in the barge market hit an all-time high on Monday, with BP being the main buyer.
NAPHTHA IMPORTS: Naphtha arriving in Asia from the Middle East this month are seen at a four-month high of about 3 million tonnes, with the bulk of the volume coming from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, a weekly report by Thomson Reuters Oil Research showed.
A total of about 2.0 to 2.1 million tonnes were seen from UAE and Qatar versus slightly under 1.6 million tonnes in February from the two heavyweights.
TENDERS: India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) offered 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for April 12-14 loading from New Mangalore through a tender closing on March 20.
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