SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack was at a three-session high of $41.05 a tonne on Wednesday, boosted by demand.
- Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp is seeking open-specification naphtha for second-half January arrival at Mailiao through a tender closing on Dec. 13.
- Formosa, Asia's largest buyer of the fuel, had on Nov. 30 bought 50,000 tonnes of naphtha for first-half January delivery at a discount deeper than $7 but narrower than $8 a tonne level to its own price formula on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
- It had also agreed two 12-month term deals last month for open-specification and heavy grades delivering between January and December 2019 at a discount of about $3 a tonne and premiums of about $40 a tonne respectively.
- Malaysia-based Titan was also seeking to naphtha for second-half January delivery to Pasir Gudang on Wednesday.
- It had previously paid a discount of $8 to $9 a tonne for naphtha scheduled for first-half January delivery.
- Despite the buying interest, supplies remained high as shipments arriving in Asia from the West including Europe and the Mediterranean were far from subsiding.
- According to data published by Refinitiv, east-bound cargoes for this month's arrival were expected at up to 1.9 million tonnes, the highest since January 2016.
* GASOLINE: The gasoline crack persisted at discount levels in reflection of a heavily oversupplied market, this time at 81 cents a barrel versus a discount of $1.10 a barrel in the previous day.
- Stockpiles were not receding in the United States, which influence the market trend in Asia.
- Analysts for instance had estimated that US stockpiles of gasoline had risen by about 2.5 million barrels last week, extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
- Refinery run rates in the US were expected to have gone even higher in the week ended Nov. 30 versus the week before.
* CASH DEALS: One naphtha deal and three on gasoline.
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