Asia's naphtha crack rose for a third day, hitting a four-session high of $116.35 a tonne on Thursday, as demand remained strong in view of a lack of alternative feedstock available at affordable prices. Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp, top importer of the fuel in Asia, was to wrap up negotiations on Thursday to buy open-specification naphtha for first-half February arrival at Mailiao.
Details were however not immediately clear. This week alone, Japan and South Korean buyers have scooped up at least 280,000 tonnes of naphtha for first-half February delivery. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for January 18-20 loading from Chennai. Traders said the buyer could be an oil major, but this could not be directly confirmed.
Asia's gasoline crack hit a 9-1/2 month low of $8.28 a barrel on higher stocks. Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for the fuel, edged up 1.1 percent to a two-week high of 13.8 million barrels in the week to December 20, official data showed. The higher inventory level mirrored that of the US where its gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI last week were up 1.2 million barrels, data from the weekly US Energy Information Administration showed.
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