Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha at seven-week low on ample supplies

Formosa Chemicals and Fibre

09/04/2019 11:40

SINGAPORE, April 9 (Reuters) - Asia's naphtha crack fell for a seventh session running to hit a
seven-week low of $40.80 a tonne on Wednesday on persistently weaker fundamentals than a month ago. 
    - Naphtha arriving in Asia from the West, including Europe and the Mediterranean, in April is
expected to be slightly more than 1.6 million tonnes, Refinitiv Oil Research said in a weekly
report. 
    - Although this is down more than 20 percent compared with March cargoes, the volumes are still
slightly above 2018's monthly average of 1.58 million tonnes.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPGEDTVVJa
    - Industry sources said the market is not lacking in naphtha cargoes as some Asian and Middle
Eastern refineries prepare to return from scheduled maintenance.     
    - Formosa Petrochemical Corp, for instance, will raise throughput at its 540,000 barrels per day
(bpd) Mailiao refinery to more than 82 percent from the second half of April. That compares with
current run rates below 70 percent of full capacity because of planned maintenance at a crude
distillation unit.  REF/A   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21R147
    - All three of its crackers are at full-tilt and it is too early to determine if any intentional
run cuts are necessary after a fire at its sister company Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp  1326.TW 
(FCFC) on Sunday. 
    - Formosa Petrochemical supplies pyrolysis gasoline or pygas, a by-product from naphtha
cracking, to FCFC.
    
    * GASOLINE
    - Asia's gasoline crack edged up by 1 cent to, edging above a high this week of $6.74 a barrel,
supported by demand. 
    - A glitch in a refinery in South Korea could have also given the market some support, industry
sources said. 
    - S-Oil Corp is expected to keep its 73,000 bpd residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) shut
until the end of April after a technical glitch. The unit has been down since late March.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21R1US
    
    * CASH DEALS: No naphtha deals but one on gasoline.  O/AS 
 LIGHT DISTILLATES                                2018                                              
 CASH ($/T)                         ASIA CLOSE          Change  %        Prev Close  RIC
                                                                Change               
 OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1                       575.25    2.50     0.44      572.75   NAF-1H-TYO 
 OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2                       571.50    2.50     0.44      569.00   NAF-2H-TYO 
 OSN Naphtha Diff                                 3.75    0.00     0.00        3.75   NAF-TYO-DIF 
 Naphtha Netback FOB Sing                        61.76    0.28     0.46       61.48   NAF-SIN 
 Naphtha Diff FOB Sing                            0.40   -0.05   -11.11        0.45   NAF-SIN-DIF 
 Naphtha-Brent  Crack                            40.80   -1.18    -2.81       41.98   NAF-SIN-CRK 
 Gasoline 97                                     81.50    0.50     0.62       81.00   GL97-SIN 
 Gasoline 95                                     79.60    0.50     0.63       79.10   GL95-SIN 
 Gasoline 92                                     78.00    0.50     0.65       77.50   GL92-SIN 
 Gasoline crack                                   6.74    0.01     0.15        6.73   GL92-SIN-CRK 
                                                                                                    
 For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please double                                 
 click the RICs below.                                                               
 Brent M1                            BRENTSGMc1                                                     
 Naphtha CFR Japan M1                NACFRJPSWMc1                                                   
 Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2             NACFRJPSDMc1                                                   
 Naphtha CFR Japan M2                NACFRJPSWMc2                                                   
 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1       NAPTC4SPDMc1                                                   
 Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2       NAPTC4SPDMc2                                                   
 Naphtha FOB Sing M1                 NAFOBSGSWMc1                                                   
 Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2              NAFOBSGSDMc1                                                   
 Naphtha FOB Sing M2                 NAFOBSGSWMc2                                                   
 Naphtha Cracks M1                   NACFRJPCKMc1                                                   
 East-West Naphtha M1                NAPJPEWMc1                                                     
 East-West Naphtha M2                NAPJPEWMc2                                                     
 NWE Naphtha M1                      NAPCNWEAMc1                                                    
 NWE Naphtha M1/M2                   NAPCNWEASMc1                                                   
 NWE Naphtha M2                      NAPCNWEAMc2                                                    
 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1          NAPCNWEACMc1                                                   
 Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2          NAPCNWEACMc2                                                   
 *Sing refers to Singapore                                                                          
 
 (Reporting by Seng Li Peng
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((lipeng.seng@thomsonreuters.com ; +65 6870 3086; Reuters Messaging:
lipeng.seng.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))