Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha crack falls for a second straight session

Asia’s naphtha refining profit extended fall on Thursday as cheaper alternative feedstock propane dented demand for the light fuel, analysts and traders said.

The crack weakened by about $4 to $87.90 per metric ton over Brent crude in a backwardation of $15.75 per ton.

The second-half March naphtha cargo price shrank by about $20 to $695.25 per ton in tandem with a fall in crude prices.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s newly commissioned Dangote refinery has offered about 60,000 tons of naphtha in a tender that closes on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the matter.

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INVENTORIES

Singapore light distillate stocks declined by 57,000 barrels to a two-month low of 12.908 million barrels in the week to Feb. 14, Enterprise Singapore data showed. O/SING1

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 3.7 million barrels in the week to 247.33 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel drop.​

NEWS

– Russia’s January seaborne oil product exports fell 8.6% from a year earlier and 2% from the previous month to 10.792 million metric tons owing to lower processing and unplanned refinery repair work, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.

– Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) flagged slowing demand growth this year while a larger than expected jump in U.S. crude inventories also weighed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)