NEW DELHI: Asia's naphtha crack rose on Tuesday, cutting losses from last three sessions amid robust feedstock demand from petrochemicals and slowing supplies from the West. The crack rose to $169.13 per tonne from $166.33 in the last session. Naphtha margins have gained over 45% in the last two months due to higher prices of alternative cracker feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

On supply side, total naphtha flows into Asia for November have been provisionally assessed at 6-6.5 million metric tonnes, contracting from October forecast of 6.7-6.8 million mt, according to Refinitiv Oil Research data. "While inflows from the Middle East, typically Asia's top naphtha supply region, have surpassed the 3 million mt level for the third month in a row, the robust exports have been unable to fully mitigate the deficit in arbitrage volumes arriving this month," Refinitiv said in a weekly report.

Meanwhile, the gasoline crack inched lower but remained firm over $13 a barrel supported by strong demand from South Asia. Sri Lanka's Ceypetco issued a tender seeking the delivery of 1.8 million barrels of 92-octane gasoline, or six cargoes of 300,000 barrels each, between February and October 2022. The tender will close on Dec. 21 with offers valid for 90 days.

India's MRPL has also issued a tender offering gasoline for December delivery. Saudi Aramco Chief Exective Officer Amin Nasser said on Tuesday oil demand is expected to exceed 100 million barrels per day in 2022, according to Al-Arabiya TV.