Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha market posts weekly gains, steady in contango

Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin posted weekly gains of over 100% amid volatility in flat prices, although demand from petrochemical units remained tepid, traders and analysts said.

The crack was steady on Friday at $1.93 per metric ton over Brent crude and the second-half December naphtha price jumped by $13.75 to $656 per ton in contango structure.

At the physical window, 25,000 tons of naphtha and 50,000 barrels of gasoline changed hands, market participants said.
In gasoline markets, the crack was up about 16% this week at $6.29 a barrel over Brent crude on the back of falling supplies.
India’s gasoline exports sank to a one-year low of 650,000- 700,000 metric tons for October, way below about 1 million mt exported a month earlier, assessments by LSEG Research showed. This dragged down total outflows from Asia for the month to 5.2 million tons-5.3 million tons from the year-to-date (YTD) monthly average of 5.57 million mt.
NEWS
– Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC Ltd will supply the new 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote oil refinery with up to six cargoes of crude oil in December to be used in test runs, three industry sources with knowledge of the matter said.

– Russian energy ministry said on Friday that it expects the country’s exports of crude oil and petroleum products to fall in November by more than 300,000 barrels per day, compared to the average level of May-June.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
One gasoline trade, one naphtha deal.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)