Naphtha crack in Asia sees marginal recovery to two-session high

29-Sep-15

Asia's naphtha crack recovered marginally to reach a two session high of US$86.6/ton at the start of the week, as the focus returned to fewer cargoes arriving next month from the West. Eyes were on the upcoming term talks to be hosted by Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) with its Asian buyers next week for cargoes lifting from December 2015 to November 2016, as per Reuters. It had in late September 2014 sealed its 12-month contract starting December 2014 at US$15/ton premium to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, down 38 percent for a one-year contract started December 2013. Some traders expected the new term contract premium to keep within the mid-teen levels. Although more supplies were supposed to be shipped out of Ruwais, where Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) had more than doubled its refinery capacity to over 820,000 barrels per day this year, its current run rates were unclear, traders said. "ADNOC likely still need time to get their new refinery running smoothly," said a trader. Asia's gasoline crack edged up to a two-session high of $14.27 a barrel as supplies were expected to be squeezed due to refinery maintenance in Singapore, India and Malaysia. Some of Europe's struggling refineries could get an unexpected boost from Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal if once-dominant gasoline regains its popularity. That could see Europe cutting back on exports, including those to Asia. Norway occasionally ships small quantities of gasoline to Singapore. Indonesia's Pertamina said on Monday its Trans Pacific Petrochemicals Indotama (TPPI) refinery will reduce the country's fuel imports by 80,000-100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from between 700,000-800,000 bpd once it restarts operations October 8. The United Arab Emirates will lower domestic prices for gasoline in October, the ministry of energy said on Monday. The price of a litre of octane 95 gasoline will fall 8.7 percent to 1.79 dirhams ($0.4874) at the start of October compared with 1.96 dirhams in September, the ministry said on its Twitter account.