SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack fell to more than a three-month low of $53.43 a tonne on Monday amid cracker outage in South Korea and ample supplies.
South Korea's LG Chem shut a 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker last week following a fire.
It was unclear when the unit will resume but some industry sources expect the shutdown to last for more than a month.
A one-month shutdown would result in a naphtha demand loss of more than 300,000 tonnes if the cracker runs at 100% capacity.
A South Korean end user has issued a purchase tender to buy naphtha for 2021 but this could not be directly confirmed.
Formosa has offered two parcels, each at 250,000 barrels, of 93-octane grade gasoline for Dec. 12-16 and Dec. 17-21 loading from Mailiao, respectively.
CNOOC has offered up to 37,000 tonnes of 92-octane grade gasoline for Dec. 11-12 loading from Huizhou Dagang Terminal.
Kuwait is looking to sell 24,000 tonnes of light grade naphtha for Dec. 11-12 loading.
Indian Oil Corp has an outstanding tender to sell 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for Nov. 28-30 loading from Chennai, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) offered an 11,000-tonne naphtha cargo to be co-loaded with 15,000 tonnes of gasoil for Nov. 28-30 loading from Vizag.
Asia's gasoline crack fell nearly 8% to a two-session low of $2.54 a barrel as weak demand in Europe could potentially hurt the East.
Several countries in Europe have reimposed lockdown measures and excess gasoline can find its way into Asia depending on stockpiles and demand for European fuel in the United States.-Reuters
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