Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha market little changed amid low demand, ample supplies

Asia’s naphtha refining margin traded steady on Thursday but demand continued to remain muted from the petrochemicals sector amid seasonally high supplies, traders and analysts said.

The crack NAF-SIN-CRK traded at a premium of $1.97 per metric ton over Brent crude.

“Spot prices in Asia have been pressured by cargoes coming from Russia and Europe in addition to the Middle East, resulting in ample supply, gasoline blending demand has also started to weaken amid changing seasons with North America, Europe and Northeast Asia heading towards winter,” analysts at LSEG Research said in a note.

At the Singapore trading window, South Korean energy trader SK Energy bought second-half December naphtha cargo at $646 per ton, market participants said. Vitol bought 50,000 tons of 92-octane grade of gasoline, they added.

INVENTORIES O/SING1
Naphtha imports into Singapore from Russia rose to about 20,500 tons in the week to Nov. 1, Enterprise Singapore data showed, compared with about 15,000 tons in the prior week.

The city-state also imported naphtha from India this week, adding to the build, driving overall stocks of light distillates to a two-week high of 12.271 million barrels, the data showed.

REFINERY NEWS REF/OUT
– PetroChina’s Sichuan refinery has resumed operations after shutting down for a 34-day planned maintenance, the refinery said in a statement on social media.
– Sinopec’s Dongxing refinery has shut down its whole plant for 61 days of planned maintenance, starting from Oct. 20, the refinery said in a statement on social media.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)