Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin on Monday plunged to its lowest levels since July, amid persisting poor demand and abundant supplies from Russia, traders and analysts said.

The crack slipped to a discount of $21.85 a metric ton over Brent crude, compared with a discount of $14.15 in the last session.
“Naphtha demand remained crimped by outages at a few ethylene crackers, while most of the plants in operation across the region also maintained run rates below maximum capacity due to poor downstream olefins margins,” LSEG Research’s analysts said in a note.

A softer gasoline complex has also compounded the downside, they added.

Meanwhile, South Korean buyers secured first- and second-half December delivery on-spec naphtha last week, market participants said.

The gasoline crack GL92-SIN-CRK eased by 36 cents to $5.42 a barrel over Brent crude on Monday.

NEWS
– India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) has cleared all payments for Russian oil purchases, its head of finance Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta told an analysts’ conference after the company’s September quarter earnings report.

– Oil slipped more than 1% on Monday as concern eased about the Israel-Hamas war affecting supply from the region and as investors adopted caution ahead of this week’s U.S. Federal Reserve meeting and other indications of global economic health.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
One gasoline trade, no naphtha deals.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Varun H K)