Asian naphtha crack eases

Asia's naphtha crack eased $2.90 to $108.18 a tonne but the value was 11 percent higher than a month ago as supplies remained squeezed while demand was strong. LG Chem was the first to seek cargoes for first-half April delivery in South Korea via a tender after completing March purchases. Traders said the petrochemicals maker could have bought only one cargo for delivery to Yeosu at premiums of $9 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis, but this could not be independently verified.
LG Chem, which was initially looking to buy three to four cargoes at an average of 25,000-tonne per cargo, had on February 10 paid $8 a tonne premium to Japan quotes on a C&F basis for a cargo delivering in second-half March. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) sold up to 16,000 tonnes of naphtha for March 5-7 loading from Paradip.
Traders estimated the price range to be within the high-single digit to double-digit discount levels. The buyer's identity was not immediately clear, they added. Essar Oil has an outstanding tender to sell up to 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for March 15-19 loading from Vadinar. It had around February 6 sold similar volumes but for March 3-7 loading from the same port at more than $15 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
Asia's gasoline crack was at a three-session high of $12.69 a barrel on strong fundamentals. Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol, fell nearly 11 percent or 1.54 million barrels to reach a five-week low of 12.76 million barrels in the week to February 15, official data showed.
This contrasted with the trend in the US where weekly gasoline stocks hit a record high level of 259 million barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed. Operating rates at Indonesian TPPI's 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) condensate splitter in Tuban have been cut due to maintenance at a unit in the plant.