Asia’s naphtha markets gained on Monday amid weakness in crude oil benchmarks, although weak demand and poor petrochemical margins continued to weigh on the cracks, analysts and traders said.

The crack rose by about $2 to $73.28 per metric ton over Brent crude and the second-half February naphtha price rose by $3 to $658.50 per ton in backwardation structure.

At the window, trading arm of Shell bought the first-half March cargo of naphtha in the first trade of the year for the oil product.

In gasoline markets, the crack fell below $9 per barrel over Brent crude on Monday but hopes of firm demand during the Chinese Lunar New Year limited the downside.

NEWS

– India’s fuel consumption rose to a seven-month high in December to about 20.054 million metric tons, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed.
– Oil prices fell by more than 1% on Monday on sharp price cuts by top exporter Saudi Arabia and a rise in OPEC output, offsetting worries about escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

One naphtha trade, two gasoline deals.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)