Naphtha discounts to Brent crude continue to shrink in Asia

21-Dec-11

Naphtha discounts to Brent crude in Asia continued to shrink to US$6.27 on reduced output from refineries, which cut run rates in December and January, as per Reuters. Refiners in Singapore and South Korea have reduced run rates for December due to poor refinery margins. Amid weak petrochemical demand, petrochemical producers from Taiwan and South Korea have been rebuilding inventories, thus propping up naphtha prices. Asia's January swap was US$14/ton higher than Northwest European prices. The price for Japan open spec naphtha for front-month H1-February rose to US$904/ton.