SINGAPORE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The Asian naphtha price rebounded to a five-session high of $965 a tonne on Tuesday, with the intermonth premium recovering to reach $12.00 a tonne as demand from South Korea returned. LG Chem has bought 50,000 tonnes of for November delivery to Yeosu. Traders said the 25,000-tonne cargo for first-half November delivery was likely concluded at premiums of $11-$12 as tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. Another 25,000-tonne cargo for second-half November delivery was done at premiums of $12-$13 a tonne.ID:nL3E8L95KB Despite the uncertain and mostly gloomy economic outlook, naphtha premiums held up as traders expected a tightly supplied market due to strong liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices and firm gasoline demand in the West. LPG can be used to replace 5-15 percent of naphtha feedstock in some of the Asian crackers while naphtha can be used for gasoline production. European refiners found it more lucrative to use naphtha to make gasoline to feed the West African market rather than to sell to Asia, which is structurally short. That helped Bahrain's Bapco to garner record high premiums of $28 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for its 2013 full-range naphtha shipments.ID:nL3E8L94WS Kuwait also achieved record premiums of its full-range naphtha for December 2012 to November 2013 lifting at $27 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis, and $28 a tonne for its light grade for the same delivery period. Taiwan's Formosa delayed an estimated 60,000 tonnes of naphtha to November from October after it reduced operating rates at its 2.93 million tonnes per year (tpy) naphtha cracking complex to 80 percent had limited impact on the market.ID:L3E8L95PA GASOLINE CRACKS EASE Asia's gasoline cracks eased to a two-session low of $12.87 a barrel after nearing a two-month high the previous day as high Brent crude put pressure on the margins. Demand in Southeast Asia and South Asia were healthy with Sri Lanka's Ceypetco seeking 1.56 million barrels of 90-octane gasoline and 125,000 barrels of 95-octane grade for Dec. 1 to May 31 delivery to Colombo.ID:nL3E8L91QL The tender closes on Oct. 25 and is valid for up to 4-5 weeks.ID:nL3E8L91QL India's Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) is seeking 7,000 tonnes of reformate for Nov. 10-25 delivery to Haldia port through state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). The tender closes on Oct. 16, with offers to stay valid until Oct. 18. Pakistan was also out seeking gasoline. It is looking to buy a total of 280,000 tonnes of gasoline for December 2012 to February 2013 delivery in a tender closing Oct. 19. Offers are to stay valid until Oct. 26. Separately, Tanzania has bought 92,180 tonnes of gasoline for November-December delivery.ID:nL3E8L95N8 But the strength in the U.S. market could weaken considerably in the coming weeks, as high prices caused by a string of refinery outages alarmed consumers and politicians across California.ID:nL1E8L8C97 * SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Two deals, one each on naphtha and gasoline. - SK Energy bought a 92-octane gasoline cargo from BP for Oct. 24-28 loading at $125.40 a barrel. - Glencore sold a spread naphtha deal to Shell for second-half November and first-half December delivery at $6.00 a tonne. LIGHT DISTILLATES CASH ($/T) ASIA Chan % Prev RIC CLOSE e Change Close OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 965.00 8.00 0.84 957.00NAF-1H-TYO OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 953.00 7.00 0.74 946.00NAF-2H-TYO OSN Naphtha Diff 12.00 0.50 4.35 11.50NAF-TYO-DIF Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 104.85 0.83 0.80 104.02NAF-SIN Naphtha Diff FOB Sing 1.50 0.00 0.00 1.50NAF-SIN-DIF Naphtha-Brent Crack 121.03 -5.4 -4.27 126.43NAF-SIN-CRK Gasoline 97 135.95 4.05 3.07 131.90GL97-SIN Gasoline 95 129.00 1.05 0.82 127.95GL95-SIN Gasoline 92 125.40 1.00 0.80 124.40GL92-SIN Gasoline crack 12.87 -0.7 -5.30 13.59GL92-SIN-CRK SWAPS ($/T) ASIA Chan % Prev RIC CLOSE e Change Close (0830 GMT) Brent M1 112.54 0.00 0.00 112.54BRENTSGMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M1 953.50 1.25 0.13 952.25NACFRJPSWMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2 9.25 0.00 0.00 9.25NACFRJPSDMc1 Naphtha CFR Japan M2 944.25 1.25 0.13 943.00NACFRJPSWMc2 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1 11.65 1.25 12.02 10.40NAPTC4SPDMc1 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2 13.20 1.25 10.46 11.95NAPTC4SPDMc2 Naphtha FOB Sing M1 104.65 0.00 0.00 104.65NAFOBSGSWMc1 Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2 1.20 0.00 0.00 1.20NAFOBSGSDMc1 Naphtha FOB Sing M2 103.45 0.00 0.00 103.45NAFOBSGSWMc2 Naphtha Cracks M1 -7.62 0.14 -1.80 -7.76NACFRJPCKMc1 East-West Naphtha M1 -10.25 0.00 0.00 -10.25NAPJPEWMc1 East-West Naphtha M2 2.50 1.00 66.67 1.50NAPJPEWMc2 NWE Naphtha M1 963.75 1.25 0.13 962.50NAPCNWEAMc1 NWE Naphtha M1/M2 22.00 1.00 4.76 21.00NAPCNWEASMc1 NWE Naphtha M2 941.75 0.25 0.03 941.50NAPCNWEAMc2 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1 -7.90 0.03 -0.38 -7.93NAPCNWEACMc1 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2 -8.42 0.11 -1.29 -8.53NAPCNWEACMc2 *Sing refers to Singapore (Reporting by Seng Li Peng, editing by William Hardy) ((lipeng.seng@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3086)(Reuters Messaging: lipeng.seng.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS ASIA/GASOLINE NAPHTHA
Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha intermonths recover
The Asian naphtha price rebounded to a five-session high of USD 965 a tonne on Tuesday, with the intermonth premium recovering to reach USD 12.00 a tonne as demand from South Korea returned.
October 9, 2012




















