Spot gasoline market activity was upbeat for most of the week, as traders were mostly in a buying position to cover their term delivery requirements to some regional destinations including Indonesia.
Longer-than-expected outages at some production units in northeast Asia, amid a collapse in oil futures this week, continued to buoy octane-92 cracks – which more than doubled week-on-week at above $13 a barrel.
At least two northeast Asia-based refineries are delaying the restart of their residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) units to second-half November from early November.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s CPC Corp was seeking for a prompt 80,000-barrel delivery of alkylates in November via a tender that closes on Friday, with same-day validity.
China-origin exports are still estimated at 500,000-600,000 metric tons for November loading, which is exacerbating the limited prompt supplies situation as well.
Contractual term discussions for next year started to pick up, with Indonesia’s Pertamina seeking octane-90 and octane-92 cargoes for delivery between January and June.
The refiner is seeking at least one 300,000-700,000 barrel octane-90 cargo, one 200,000-300,000 barrel octane-90 cargo and one 100,000-200,000 barrel octane-92 cargo for delivery per month to several ports in Indonesia.
These volumes were quite similar to those for delivery this year, one source said.
Octane-95 prices were supported by the delay of some octane booster blendstocks, two trade sources said.
Naphtha markets recorded a flurry of activities for second-half December and January deliveries, with YNCC and Hanwha Total seeking cargoes on Thursday and some enquiries from southeast Asia emerging.
GS Caltex separately sold 33.5 kilotons (KT) of grade A heavy naphtha at a premium of $25 to free on board Japan quotes for Dec. 22-24 loading as the refiner plans to keep its mixed feed cracker run rates at around 85% until end-November.
Deal levels ranged between flat to a floating discount linked to CFR Japan quotes for majority of the spot cargoes.
A portion of contractual discussions were still ongoing in northeast Asia, with some buyers still unwilling to meet seller expectations on cautious demand outlooks for 2024.
Cracks for petrochemical feedstock NAF-SIN-CRK surged to $26 per ton this from $1 per ton last week amid buying activities, weaker crude performance and a wider LPG-naphtha spread.
Sufficient supplies expectation from the West kept a lid on overall naphtha gains, with analysts expecting the more flows east from the Mediterranean and northwest Europe due to weakening demand there.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
– One gasoline deal, no naphtha deal.
INVENTORIES
– Total oil products stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by 4% in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed, hitting their lowest since July 2022. Gasoline stocks stood at 1.33 million metric tons, signalling a 7.6% drop on the week. ARA/
NEWS
– Oil prices were little changed on Friday after rising in the previous session but are set to fall for a third week as concerns of supply disruptions from the Israel-Hamas conflict have ebbed allowing demand worries to reassert themselves.
– Russian fuel producers have been told by the government to prepare for the scrapping of all remaining restrictions on the export of diesel and gasoline, three industry sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Varun H K)