Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin declined on Thursday as underlying prices jumped in line with a rise in crude oil benchmarks, traders said.

The crack was down by about $2 to $52.60 per metric ton over Brent crude and the first-half January naphtha price rose by about $13 to $681.25 per ton.

Traders said naphtha markets are waiting for cues from broader oil markets ahead of the OPEC+ meeting outcome.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) plans to shut its 1.03 million metric tons per year (tpy) No. 2 naphtha cracker for technical repairs in January for between one and two months. The refiner, however, will bring online its 1.2 million tpy No. 3 cracker during the same period.

It will also take its 700,000-tpy No. 1 cracker offline between June and August for maintenance.

INVENTORIES

Singapore’s onshore light distillate stocks rose by 71,000 barrels to a two-week high of 11.797 million barrels in the week to Nov. 29, government data showed. O/SING1

NEWS

– OPEC+ has reached a preliminary agreement for an additional oil output cut of more than 1 million barrels per day, an source said ahead of formal OPEC+ meetings due to take place later on Thursday.

– Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as investors eagerly awaited the outcome of an anticipated OPEC+ meeting that could lead to deeper supply cuts in 2024. O/R

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

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Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)