Asia naphtha falls for first time in 11 months, crack spread narrowed

01-Jun-11

Naphtha prices in Asia fell for the first time in 11 months as the crack spread narrowed as per Bloomberg. Royal Dutch Shell Plc bought cargoes of naphtha, gasoline and gasoil in Singapore. Open-spec naphtha for delivery to Japan fell by US$115.50 (11%) in May to US$977/MT. This is the first monthly decline since June and the biggest in a year. Naphtha’s premium to Brent crude fell to US$100.42/ton from US$102.75 at the end of Asian trading on May 27- down by 30% this month, indicating reduced profit from making the petrochemical feedstock.