SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Asian naphtha price was at a six-session high of $977.50 a tonne on Wednesday while its margin rose for the third day to a two-week high of $136.08 a tonne on the back of healthy demand. South Korea's Lotte Chemical has bought at least 50,000 tonnes of naphtha for second-half February delivery at premiums of about $17.00-$17.50 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis, making this the highest spot premium paid in the country in about 1-1/2 months.ID:nL4N0AE48Q Japan's Mitsui Chemicals may have also bought some volumes for the same delivery at premiums of about $21.00-$22.00 a tonne to Japan quotes on a C&F basis, but this could not be immediately confirmed. Demand, coupled with unpredictable supplies from India, have swiftly dissolved initial concerns that Asia may be weighed down by high imports from Europe. "Asia will have no problem soaking up more cargoes," said a North Asian trader. A weekend fire at Indian Oil Corp's (IOC) fuel storage terminal in Hazira, which has five gasoline and four diesel tanks, has led to speculation that IOC may need to juggle and delay some of its naphtha exports. This could not be confirmed. Naphtha is used in the production or blending of gasoline, depending on the grade.ID:nL4N0AA0F6 ID:nL4N0AB09A * NAPHTHA TENDER: Bahrain's Bapco has sold 50,000 tonnes of naphtha for March 22-23 loading at premiums in the low $40s a tonne level to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. It had previously sold a cargo for Feb. 10-13 loading to Vitol at premiums of about $40 a tonne. GASOLINE CRACK MARGINALLY LOWER The Asian gasoline crack slipped by about 2.23 percent to reach a three-session low $7.47 a barrel on sufficient supplies. India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) cancelled a rare tender to sell 25,000-30,000 tonnes of gasoline for Jan. 25-30 lifting from Vizag, with traders saying that low bids could have been the cause. But demand from Vietnam emerged, with Petrolimex seeking a 15,000-tonne and 30,000-tonne cargo for first-half February delivery in a tender due to be awarded on Friday. It had locked in 120,000 tonnes for January delivery previously after it decided against buying cargoes through a first-quarter term tender. * SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: There were seven deals of which three were on gasoline and four on naphtha. - Shell bought two 95-octane gasoline cargoes for Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 loading from PetroChina at $122.00 a barrel and $121.90 a barrel each. - Morgan Stanley sold a 97-octane gasoline cargo to Total for Feb. 1-5 loading at $123.20 a barrel. - Glencore sold a first-half March/first-half April spread deal to BP at $18.00 a tonne. - Glencore went on to sell a first-half March naphtha cargo to Marubeni at $968 a tonne. - Shell on the other hand sold a first-half March naphtha cargo to Itochu at $970 but bought a first-half March/first-half April spread deal from Mabanaft at $17.50 a tonne. LIGHT DISTILLATES CASH ($/T) ASIA Change % Change Prev RIC CLOSE Close OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 977.50 11.00 1.14 966.50NAF-1H-TYO OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 960.00 10.50 1.11 949.50NAF-2H-TYO OSN Naphtha Diff 17.50 0.50 2.94 17.00NAF-TYO-DIF Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 105.85 1.27 1.21 104.58NAF-SIN Naphtha Diff FOB Sing 2.15 0.12 5.91 2.03NAF-SIN-DIF Naphtha-Brent Crack 136.08 4.03 3.05 132.05NAF-SIN-CRK Gasoline 97 123.20 0.20 0.16 123.00GL97-SIN Gasoline 95 121.95 0.55 0.45 121.40GL95-SIN Gasoline 92 119.66 0.76 0.64 118.90GL92-SIN Gasoline crack 7.47 -0.17 -2.23 7.64GL92-SIN-CRK SWAPS ($/T) ASIA Change % Change Prev RIC CLOSE Close (0830 GMT) Brent M1 112.19 0.93 0.84 111.26BRENTSGMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M1 958.25 10.25 1.08 948.00NACFRJPSWMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2 13.75 0.75 5.77 13.00NACFRJPSDMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M2 944.50 9.50 1.02 935.00NACFRJPSWMc2 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1 6.05 -0.55 -8.33 6.60NAPTC4SPDMc1 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2 8.95 -0.40 -4.28 9.35NAPTC4SPDMc2 Naphtha FOB Sing M1 105.80 1.20 1.15 104.60NAFOBSGSWMc1 Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2 1.85 0.10 5.71 1.75NAFOBSGSDMc1 Naphtha FOB Sing M2 103.95 1.10 1.07 102.85NAFOBSGSWMc2 Naphtha Cracks M1 -7.25 0.12 -1.63 -7.37NACFRJPCKMc1 East-West Naphtha M1 15.75 1.50 10.53 14.25NAPJPEWMc1 East-West Naphtha M2 10.00 0.50 5.26 9.50NAPJPEWMc2 NWE Naphtha M1 942.50 8.75 0.94 933.75NAPCNWEAMc1 NWE Naphtha M1/M2 8.00 -0.25 -3.03 8.25NAPCNWEASMc1 NWE Naphtha M2 934.50 9.00 0.97 925.50NAPCNWEAMc2 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1 -8.36 0.07 -0.83 -8.43NAPCNWEACMc1 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2 -9.08 0.01 -0.11 -9.09NAPCNWEACMc2 *Sing refers to Singapore (Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Alison Birrane) ((lipeng.seng@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3086)(Reuters Messaging: lipeng.seng.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS ASIA/NAPHTHA GASOLINE
Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha at 2-week high on demand
The Asian naphtha price was at a six-session high of $977.50 a tonne on Wednesday while its margin rose for the third day to a two-week high of $136.08 a tonne on the back of healthy demand.
January 10, 2013
