SINGAPORE: Asia's gasoline crack hit a 3-1/2 month high of $9.86 a barrel on Thursday, driven by demand as Indonesia was seeking higher-than-usual volumes of cargoes from the spot market.
- Pertamina, Asia's top gasoline importer, was looking for at least 700,000 barrels of 88-octane grade gasoline for June delivery through a tender closing on May 18.
- This came shortly after it was looking to buy 1 million barrels of 92-octane grade, also for June delivery, through a tender closing on Thursday.
- Although the combined volumes sought through the spot tenders were small compared with its average monthly imports requirement at some 9 million barrels a month, it was not usual for the firm to seek such quantities through tenders, traders said.
- The reasons for this were unclear but the Muslim fasting month, which started this week, typically drives up demand for gasoline.
- Adding to this was India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) looking to buy 91.2-octane gasoline for May 24-26 arrival at Haldia through a tender expected to be awarded on May 19.
- Although the volume sought was small at 15,000 tonnes, BPCL is not a regular importer of gasoline.
- Over in the US, gasoline demand was also seen increasing as the summer driving season kicked in.
- Gasoline stocks in the US for instance fell by a surprise 3.8 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
NAPHTHA: Asia's naphtha crack was at a two-session high of $104.95 a tonne with demand seen firm.
- South Korea's Lotte Chemical and SK Energy were among the first few to buy cargoes for first-half July delivery.
- Lotte Chemical paid a premium of $15 to $16 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis for the cargoes scheduled for delivery to Yeosu and Daesan, traders said.
- These were not only higher than the $13.50 to $14.00 a tonne premium Lotte Chemical had paid on May 8, but the fresh premiums were also the highest the petrochemical firm had paid through a tender since April 22, 2014.
- SK Energy on the other hand paid about $19 a tonne premium to Japan quotes on a C&F basis for the fuel.
CRACKER NEWS: PetroChina's Jilin Petrochemical shut its 700,000 tonne-per-year (tpy) ethylene facility for maintenance on May 8, a CNPC report said, but without elaborating when the unit would resume operations.
REFINERY NEWS: Japan's Cosmo Oil shut a 75,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at the 177,000-bpd Chiba refinery on Thursday for planned maintenance which will last around a month.
- Its other 102,000 bpd CDU in the same refinery is expected to restart in early June after being shut for maintenance on April 19.
CASH DEALS: No naphtha deals but eleven on gasoline, making this the highest number of petrol trades done in a single session since June 23, 2017.
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