Asia’s naphtha climbed to the highest level since Oct. 4 on Wednesday boosted by lower supplies from Russia and power outage at South Korean petrochemical plants.

The crack jumped to $120.10 metric tonne over Brent crude and the backwardation widened for a second straight day by $2.50 to $12 per tonne.

South Korean LG Chem and Lotte Chem shut their plants in Daesan after about a two hour long power outage, local media reported. The companies were burning raw materials as they were no longer usable, they did not provide a timeline for the shutdown, the reports said.

Meanwhile, the gasoline crack was rangebound at about $9 per barrel over Brent crude on Wednesday ahead of demand season of Ramazan in key importer Indonesia.

NEWS

– Russia attacked Ukraine with nearly two hundred drones overnight, targeting mostly the Kyiv region and energy facilities in the east in strikes that killed two people, authorities said on Wednesday.

– Oil prices held around two-month lows on Wednesday as a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continued to weigh on prices while lower U.S. crude stockpiles provided some support.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

One naphtha deal and one gasoline trade.
Source: Reuters