Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha crack hits 11-month high

• Premiums for Indian cargoes have been surging after the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities.
• This is higher than its September shipment at below 430,000 tonnes but lower than August exports at 680,000 tonnes.

SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack edged up 2pc on Tuesday to touch an 11-month high of $67.95 a tonne as supplies tightened as lower Middle Eastern shipments countered higher east-bound cargoes.

Naphtha arrivals in Asia this month from the West including Europe and the Mediterranean are seen recovering from a three-month low of about 1.1 million tonnes in September to a two-month high of about 1.3 million tonnes.

But Middle Eastern naphtha supplies to Asia this month at up to 2.2 million tonnes are down from an average monthly of up to 2.5 million tonnes for the first nine months of this year, data from Refinitiv Oil Research showed.

TENDERS: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) offered up to 51,000 tonnes of naphtha for October loading from Paradip and Mumbai respectively, bringing India's total exports for October to close to 500,000 tonnes based on tender documents seen by Reuters.

This is higher than its September shipment at below 430,000 tonnes but lower than August exports at 680,000 tonnes.

Premiums for Indian cargoes have been surging after the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, which not only disrupted supplies but prompted Aramco to buy spot cargoes from HPCL and IOC.

It paid more than $40 a tonne premium for 70,000 tonnes of naphtha on Friday, making that the highest premium IOC had received for any cargoes sold out of Chennai in 6-1/2 years.

GASOLINE: India's MRPL sold 25,000 tonnes of 92-octane grade gasoline last week for Oct. 21-23 loading from New Mangalore to BB Energy at premiums of 90 to 95 cents a barrel to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis.

MRPL had previously sold a 95-octane grade cargo for August loading at premiums of up to $2.60 a barrel.

While it regularly exports naphtha, it does not export gasoline on a routine basis.