SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack slumped 10 percent to a five-session low of $54.15 a tonne on Tuesday as firm Brent crude weighed on the differential though spot naphtha prices were buoyed by an easing supply glut.
South Korea's Lotte Chemical returned to the market to buy a naphtha cargo for first-half November delivery to Daesan at a discount of about $3 a tonne or even narrower to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
It had previously bought a cargo for the same delivery period to Yeosu at a discount of some $4 to $4.50 a tonne.
It is usually more expensive to deliver cargoes to Daesan than Yeosu, traders said.
The spot prices were markedly different than the $11 discount a tonne Lotte Chemical paid on Sept. 5 for cargoes arriving in the second half of October.
Separately, India's Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) sold 65,000 tonnes of naphtha for October loading, fetching premiums above three-month highs.
BPCL sold 30,000 tonnes for Oct. 16-18 loading from Mumbai to Japanese Marubeni at a premium of nearly $5 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. This contrasted with $1 discount for a cargo it recently sold to Petro-Diamond for Oct. 8-10 loading from Mumbai.
BPCL sold 35,000 tonnes for Oct. 12-14 loading from Kochi to Trafigura at a premium of nearly $7 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis.
OTHER NEWS: A unit at Royal Dutch Shell's manufacturing site at Pulau Bukom in Singapore experienced operational issues on Tuesday that resulted in flaring with dark smoke.
While it was unclear what had caused the flaring, traders not related to Shell said a compressor problem at the site could have caused its cracker to shut unexpectedly. Typically, the shutdown of a large-scale cracker would impact prices of ethylene, made predominantly from naphtha in Asia.
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