Indian Oil Corp’s naphtha exports for May total to 182,000 tons

22-Apr-10

With 61,500 tons of naphtha exports to Itochu, Indian Oil Corp has sold a total of 182,000 tons for May. This is a relatively high volume as its recently onstream cracker at Panipat was expected to use some of the feedstock for captive consumption. IOC had planned to export 120,000 tons of naphtha for April, but its sales exceeded 200,000 tons. These high export volumes indicate that the plant could be faced with some problems. IOC sold a 30,000 ton cargo for May 2-5 loading from Chennai and another 30,500-31,500 tons for May 8-10 lifting from Dahej to Itochu at premiums of US$2124/ton to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. The markets weakened on high volumes from India along with Western cargoes. But strong demand from Taiwan and South Korea helped lift sentiment this week.