Ethylene-naphtha spread in Asia jumps to record high amid bullish ethylene

23-Apr-15

Amid a bullish ethylene market with tight supplies, the Asian ethylene-naphtha spread jumped US$13/mt day on day to US$876.6/mt on Wednesday, as per Platts. This is the highest level ever recorded under Platts data. CFR Northeast Asia ethylene price was assessed unchanged day on day at US$1420/mt, while the CFR Japan naphtha price declined US$23/mt to US$543.3/mt over the same period. Asian ethylene prices started the upward climb in early February and hit a six-month high of US$1420/mt CFR NEA this week, driven by tight supplies due to the steam cracker turnaround season in the second quarter. Three steam crackers out of South Korea's eleven are scheduled to be shut in Q2 for annual maintenance, withdrawing around 35% of South Korea's total ethylene capacity. Additionally, the region will see several unplanned steam cracker outages. Japan's JX Nippon Oil and Energy plans to shut its 404,000 tpa steam cracker in Kawasaki from the end of April to early May for repairs, Platts reported previously. In Thailand, PTT shut its 515,000 tpa naphtha-fed steam cracker in Map Ta Phut from the end of March to late April for emergency repairs.