On Asia’s gasoline front, some sellers emerged via spot sale tenders to offer January-loading cargoes – which could be a further sign of easing supply tightness in line with earlier expectations.
Kuwait’s KPC was offering end-January cargoes, while South Korea’s GS Caltex sold at least four spot lots for January octane-92 cargoes at a premium of less than $1 a barrel. Taiwan’s CPC Corp also sold catalytic cracked spirit at premiums slightly above $1 a barrel for February shipment.
Both spot market premiums and cracks GL92-SIN-CRK slipped day-on-day by more than 30% against the backdrop of strong selling interest. The market was earlier discussed at premiums in the past three sessions.
Blendstocks inquiries were minimal given the volatility in both upstream markets and squeezed blending margins, one trade source said. Reforming margins remained below $14 a barrel at the close of the trade session.
Uncertainty on China-origin barrels for January shipment, given the lack of fresh quotas expectation, also was a swing factor in the market, one trader said.
There are some pockets of demand, however, but buyers are not in the open market with spot tenders, some still seeking January cargoes via private negotiations, a second trader said.
For naphtha, more prompt sellers emerged into the foray, with Kuwait’s KPC offering at least two spot lots of full-range naphtha cargoes for loading in second-half January.
January cracker runs remained unclear given the squeezed production spreads for petrochemical derivatives and that weighed slightly on the market.
Adjustments in China’s import tariffs for downstream olefins and aromatics added to further uncertainty.
Cracks NAF-SIN-CRK slipped to below $100 per metric ton for the petrochemical feedstock, in line with overall price weakness.
NEWS
– U.S. Gulf Coast refiners have reduced gasoline export prices to their lowest since 2021 because restrictions on shipping through the Panama Canal have left exporters unable to send as much of the motor fuel to international markets.
– Chinese refiner Rongsheng Petrochemical has bought 3 million barrels of Brazilian and Qatari crude oil via a spot tender, several trade sources said on Thursday.
– Covestro is in open-ended talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), a spokesperson for the German plastics and chemicals maker said on Thursday, following a report that the oil giant is preparing to up its takeover bid for the company.
– Japanese ethylene production in November fell 0.4% from a year earlier to 468,700 metric tons, data from the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association showed on Thursday.
INVENTORIES
– Singapore light distillate stocks rose by 1.8 million barrels to a 5-week high of 13.3 million barrels in the week to Dec. 20, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
– U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 2.7 million barrels in the week to 226.7 million barrels, EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel rise.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
– One gasoline floating-priced deal, no naphtha deal.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)