Asia's naphtha crack rises to two-week high

Asia's naphtha crack rose for a fourth day to reach an almost two-week high of $19 a tonne on Thursday, supported by demand for second-half October cargoes although the value was 80.6% lower than a year ago due to excess supplies. Buyers in the market this week included South Korea's Hanwha Total, KPIC and YNCC where YNCC bought three cargoes for second-half October delivery versus one cargo for first-half delivery via tenders.
Overall naphtha flows to Asia this month stood at 5.4 to 5.5 million tonnes, data from Refinitiv Oil Research Team showed. This was higher than July's volume at 5.3 million tonnes. Asia's gasoline profit margin was at a three-session high of $5 a barrel but the market remains under pressure from ample supplies.
Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks were marginally higher by 0.1 percent, or 13,000 barrels, to an eight-week high of 11.285 million barrels in the week ended on Wednesday, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. But current inventories are however 13.2 percent lower versus a year ago, the data showed.
US gasoline stockpiles on the other hand were expected to have fallen by 1.5 million barrels last week, a Reuters poll showed.
India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) bought 20,000 tonnes of gasoline for Sept. 16-18 arrival at Kandla at premiums of about $4 a barrel to Singapore quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
This was down from two purchases BPCL made previously for August arrival at the same port at premiums of about $4.50 a barrel.
The refiner however has offered a prompt 30,000-tonne naphtha cargo for Sept. 18-20 loading from Mumbai through a tender closing on September 6.
Earlier in the week it sold 30,000 tonnes for Sept. 6-8 loading from the same port to Vitol at no more than $1 a tonne premium to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, the lowest price it has received this year, Reuters data showed.
MRPL on the other hand has sold a 35,000-tonne cargo for Sept. 26-28 loading from New Mangalore to Emirates National Oil Co (ENOC) at premiums of about $12.50 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis.
This was down from an average of close to $15 a tonne premium MRPL had fetched for two August cargoes sold to Trafigura.
It was also the lowest price MRPL has received since it sold a cargo for June loading.