Asia's naphtha cracks hit fresh two-week low

Updated 15 Jul, 2020

SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack hit a fresh two-week low of $75.73 a tonne on Tuesday, with gasoline crack also hitting a two-week low of $1.33 a barrel premium over Brent crude on ample supplies.

Industry sources said East-bound naphtha cargoes arriving in August will not be as low as previously expected.

Naphtha supplies were previously tight due to strong demand and fewer cargoes arriving in Asia.

For instance, naphtha flows into Asia for July notionally assessed at 5.4-5.5 million tonnes were down sharply from June's volume at up to 6.2 million tonnes due to a slump in Western supplies, assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research showed.

Additionally, some Asian cracker operators have bought alternative liquefied petroleum gas from the spot market to replace some of the naphtha feedstock due to the former's more lucrative prices.

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