Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha eases but gasoline at 4-week high

SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack eased to a two-session low of $23.33 a tonne on Friday after hitting a month's high in the previous session but gasoline margins rose to a four-week high of $3.71 a barrel as drawdown in inventories in the West provided support.

- US gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels last week, Energy Information Administration data showed, sharply contrasting with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll of a 935,000-barrel gain.

- Gasoline stocks held independently at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub were also down by around 5% to a two-week low of 1.166 million tonnes in the week to June 20, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

* TENDERS: India's Reliance Industries this week sold a 75,000-tonne naphtha cargo for July 14-18 loading from Sikka.

- Details were not immediately clear but industry sources said the deal price level could be between $8 and $9 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

- MRPL has an outstanding tender to sell a cargo late Friday for July 16-18 loading from New Mangalore.

- MRPL had previously sold a cargo for late June loading to Shell at below $10 a tonne premium, making that the lowest premium it has fetched this year.

- But fundamentals have improved this week with the restart of crackers in South Korea and upbeat demand.

- Malaysia has also started up its new cracker and had previously imported naphtha as raw material for the unit.

- IOC has offered a cargo for July 15-17 loading from Chennai through a tender closing next week.

- It recently sold a cargo for first-half July loading to Vitol at premiums above $14 a tonne to its own price formula on a FOB basis.

- Other tenders seen included a purchase tender from South Korea on Friday but results were not immediately clear.

* CASH DEALS: No naphtha deals but one on gasoline.

* REFINERY NEWS: Fire ripped through a Pennsylvania oil refinery early on Friday, with video footage showing the 335,000-barrels-per-day Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, where another fire broke out 11 days ago, engulfed in flames.