Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha margin falls amid thin trade, firm oil

Asia’s naphtha markets started the month in losses in the absence of any significant activity at the deals window and strength in crude oil benchmarks, traders and analysts said.

The crack eased to $17.03 a metric ton over Brent crude on Monday, compared with $24.57 on Thursday. Singapore markets were closed on Friday on account of a public holiday.

In a bullish sign for naphtha markets, Sonatrach and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco raising official selling prices (OSPs) for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in September by 13-22% from August due to rising oil prices and limited global LPG supply, traders said.

LPG is used by crackers as an alternative feedstock to naphtha for producing petrochemicals.

At the trading window, there were no deals for both naphtha and gasoline. O/AS

NEWS

– The Group of Seven’s price cap on Russian oil is still effective in limiting Russia’s revenue and oil supplies, a senior U.S. Treasury official told the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) conference on Monday.

– Global crude oil supplies are expected to improve in the next six to eight weeks because of refinery maintenance, although sour crude will stay tight, said Russell Hardy, chief executive of the world’s largest independent oil trader, Vitol.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Sohini Goswami)