SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack slumped by 20pc to $27.60 a tonne on Tuesday, hitting its lowest since Jan. 24, on abundant supply.
Spot demand was mostly absent, though South Korea's YNCC and Lotte Chemical had separately bought naphtha last week for a 12-month contract starting in August.
Demand has been hit by ongoing cracker maintenance in North Asia, coupled with a recent outage in Japan and a prolonged maintenance shutdown at Hanwha Total's cracking complex, traders said.
Asia's gasoline crack also fell, dropping to a two-session low of $5.13 a barrel.
Stockpiles in the United States were expected to have fallen last week by 1.5 million barrels, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
TENDERS: Egypt has offered up to 154,000 tonnes of naphtha from Suez for a three-month loading period starting in July.
The offer comprised three firm cargoes at up to 38,500 tonnes each for loading between July and September, plus one optional cargo of the same size for September lifting.
Egypt has sold more than 210,000 tonnes of naphtha from Suez for delivery in the first half of 2019, with Aramco Trading buying the bulk of the volumes.
CASH DEALS: Two deals on naphtha and two on gasoline.
OTHER NEWS: China National Petroleum Corp is planning to open dozens of petrol stations in Myanmar, becoming the first major foreign investor to enter the fast-growing Southeast Asian fuel market, as the state giant expands its retail oil business, company officials said.
REFINERY NEWS: Russia's Antipinsky oil refinery on Monday said it had filed for bankruptcy, weeks after a London court ordered its assets frozen in response to a lawsuit from a trading house.
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