Asia’s naphtha market gained about 5% this week on the back of weakness in crude oil benchmarks, but demand signals remained mixed from some of the crackers in the region, traders and analysts said.
The refining profit margin for naphtha shrank about $4 to $67.88 per metric ton over Brent crude on Friday, whilethe backwardation narrowed to $2 a ton.
South Korean Hanwha TotalEnergies bought 25,000 tons of naphtha for first-half September loading at low double-digitpremiums this week, while Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical bought a cargo for second-half September at discounts, market participants said.
Formosa also sought 30,000 tons of naphtha in a tender that closed on Thursday. Indonesia’s Pertamina sought a cargo for mid-August in a tender that is valid till July 29, they added.
REFINERY NEWS
– South Korea’s S-Oil 010950.KS plans to shut its No. 1 crude distillation unit sometime during the second half of this year, it saidin an earnings presentation without giving further details.
– Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, shut the 129,000 barrels-per-day crude distillation unit at its Chiba refinery on July 23 due to system trouble, a company spokesperson said on Friday.
INVENTORIES
Gasoline stocks at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub rose 3.1% to 1.03 million metric tons in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
Naphtha inventories were down to 420,000 tons in the week to Thursday from 431,000 tons in the prior week, the data showed.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices were little changed on Friday, but on track for a third consecutive weekly decline, pressured by muted demand in China and expectations of a Gaza ceasefire deal that could ease Middle East tensions and accompanying supply concerns. O/R
– India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has issued an expression of interest to sell around 240,000 metric tons (1.89 million barrels) of jet fuel term supplies starting September, three sources said on Friday.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS
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Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan and Haridas X; Editing by Shreya Biswas)