Naphtha crack in Asia dips to two week low as heavy supplies weigh on sellers' sentiment

24-May-15

Naphtha crack in Asia fell to a two-week low of US$82.45/ton at the end of the week, as heavy supplies weighed on sellers' sentiment, as per Reuters. The East is expected to receive some 1.8 mln tons of naphtha from the West including Europe and the Mediterranean in June, unchanged from May, but 12.5% higher than the monthly average for 2014. "Gasoline is giving naphtha some support as demand for it as a gasoline blendstock has been strong. But the amount of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) coming in to replace naphtha is heard increasing," said a trader, who estimated that incoming LPG volumes could be at least 230,000 tons. In early May, the volume of LPG coming in was heard at 200,000 tons. Malaysia's Titan was heard to have bought 25,000 tons of naphtha for H1-July arrival at Pasir Gudang at parity to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. This could not be confirmed as the buyer does not usually comment on its deals. It had a month ago bought a H1-June cargo at a premium of about US$5-6/ton.