Asia's naphtha rises; gasoline recovers

Asia's naphtha crack rose for the seventh straight session to 1-1/2 month high of $109.75 a tonne on Wednesday as supplies tightened on talk of refinery run cuts while maintenance is still ongoing at some of Asia's and Middle Eastern plants.

Oil refineries including those in Singapore, South Korea, Rotterdam and parts of America are likely trimming runs to around 300,000 barrels per day due to weak profit margins, consultancy Energy Aspects said in a note this week.

It added that new refining capacity in Asia would offset the run cuts.

But unlike gasoline, naphtha is structurally short in Asia and any refinery run cuts taking place while naphtha crackers are at maximum operating rates could deepen the supply crunch.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has sealed its naphtha contract premiums for first-half of 2020 at $23 to $27 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, down from its initial offers at $25 to $29.

Despite the downward revision, this was about double the premiums sealed for January to December 2019 at $12 to $16.

Asia's gasoline crack rebounded from a 3-week low to reach a three-session high of $8.50 a barrel.

Malaysia's Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), a joint venture between Petronas and Saudi Aramco, is exporting a gasoline cargo this week despite its new refinery not being fully operational. About 35,000 tonnes of petrol was sold to Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) at premiums of about $5 a barrel to Singapore quotes on a free-on-board basis.