Dearth of imports from the West for arrival in Asia helps IOC sell at steady premiums

06-Aug-09

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has sold 30,000 tons of naphtha for early-September lifting from Kandla to Itochu at premiums upto US$15/ton to its own pricing formula, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. A dearth of fresh Western imports for September arrival in Asia has helped maintain prices in the region. Premiums that had dipped in the past couple of weeks, have started firming up. This has helped lift crack spreads to levels of US$95/ton premium as compared with last weeks’ US69/ton.