Asia’s naphtha markets were steady on Monday and tightening supplies from Russia continued to support the margin, traders and analysts said.

The crack was down 83 cents at $67 per metric ton over Brent crude and the backwardation between first-half August and first-half September naphtha prices was stable at $8.75 a ton.

At the Singapore trading window, there were no offers against bids by three energy traders, resulting in no deals.

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy entered a 10-year term contract with Japan’s Eneos for the supply of up to 9 million tons of naphtha starting July, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

This is QatarEnergy’s third term contract which starts next month for the supply of naphtha. The company earlier inked deals with Japan’s Idemitsu and India’s Haldia Petrochemicals.

On Russian supply, energy consultancy FGE estimated naphtha flows from the country should dip to around 1.3-1.4 million tons per month in second half this year, versus 1.5-1.6 million tons per month in 2023.

The dip in June supplies “is largely due to Rosneft’s 240,000 barrels per day Tuapse refinery being offline since mid-May, though drone strikes in June could have contributed as well,” FGE said in a note.

– Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical said on Monday it had signed a new contact to buy crude oil from Bach Ho field for the 2024-2027 period.

– An executive of the Dangote Refinery said on Sunday oil majors were blocking its access to locally produced crude oil by selling it above market price or claiming it was unavailable, forcing the company to rely on expensive imports.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Two gasoline deals, no naphtha trades.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)