Asian naphtha cracks recover from two-month low

Asia's naphtha crack recovered slightly from a two-month low to a two-session high of $71.75 a tonne on Thursday as Brent crude prices fell but naphtha fundamentals were under pressure as more supplies were expected. This has eroded premiums, with South Korea's YNCC scooping up some 125,000 tonnes of the fuel for first-half August delivery to Yeosu at around $5.50 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F). This was the lowest premium it has paid since March this year.
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for July 12-13 loading from Mumbai at a premium of about $22 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said, adding that the buyer could be Gunvor. This could not be independently confirmed as buyers and sellers typically do not comment on deals. ONGC had most recently sold a cargo to BP for June 8-9 loading from the same port at similar premium levels.
Reliance sold 55,000 tonnes of naphtha for July 15-17 loading from Sikka at a premium of about $17 a tonne, sharply down from about $30 it had fetched for an early June cargo previously. Traders added that the second-half July cargo was sold to Trafigura, who also bought the early June cargo. Asia's gasoline crack similarly recovered from a 22-month low to a two-session high of $4.15 a barrel but it has lost 44 percent of its value when compared to the start of the year due to ample supplies.
Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks fell by about 4.5 percent or 563,000 barrels to reach its lowest in about 6-1/2 months of around 12.1 million barrels in the week ended Wednesday, official data showed. But the stockpiles were still 15.2 percent higher versus the same period last year. Gasoline stocks in the US rose 3.3 million barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
Sri Lanka's Ceypetco was looking to import a total of least 5 million barrels of gasoil and gasoline through two contracts starting September 1, 2018 and expiring on June 30, 2019. Final results were not immediately clear but Ceypetco had received offers from Vitol, PetroChina and Gulf Petrochem. Offers for 92-octane grade range from around $2.75 to $3.30 and 95-octane grade from nearly $2.90 to $3.20 pegged to different interest rates.
Australia's largest supermarket operator Woolworths Group Ltd cancelled a A$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) sale of its petrol stations to BP on Thursday, after it was blocked by Australia's antitrust regulator.