Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha cracks slip; Taiwan's FPCC offers prompt gasoline

Formosa Petrochemical

16/05/2025 10:38

SINGAPORE, May 16 (Reuters) - Asia's naphtha markets traded in a tight range this week, driven by mixed supply-demand factors and thinner spot liquidity, while cracking margins softened again

Refining margins NAF-SIN-CRK fell by more than $10 a ton to slightly below $90 per ton on Friday.

Trading sentiment was cautious from the downstream petrochemical derivatives sector, with stream cracker margins remaining little changed from the past few weeks, limiting the market's uptrend.

Support for the week mostly came from limited arbitrage flows to Asia these two months and firm reforming margins on the gasoline blending front.

Looking ahead, buying activities for second-half June from northeast Asia will likely taper down gradually as most importers covered their requirements these two weeks.

On spot tenders, India's Nayara closed a tender to sell around 35,000 metric tons of naphtha loading June 11-15 yesterday afternoon. Several traders are expecting more offers to emerge from India as a major refiner has returned from its turnaround.

For gasoline, cracks GL92-SIN-CRK dipped more than $1 a barrel to close at around $10 a barrel on the last trading day of the week.

Talks of some resumption in production from one southeast Asian refiner were prevalent in the afternoon.

On spot tenders, Taiwan's FPCC offered two prompt cargoes of 250,000 barrels each, one loading May 25-29 and the other loading June 1-5.

NEWS

- Lotte Chemical plans to start operations at its new cracker in Indonesia in the second half of 2025, an executive at Lotte's Malaysia affiliate said on Friday.

- China's U.S. ethane imports are normal as Beijing has waived import tariffs at the end of April, Chan Hian Siang, CEO of SP Chemicals, told Reuters on Friday.

- Mitsui Chemicals is studying the use of ethanol as a feedstock in its naphtha crackers to improve competitiveness amid oversupply in the global petrochemical sector, its CEO said on Friday.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

- No deals for naphtha and gasoline

PRICES

CASH
ASIA CLOSE
Change
Prev Close
RIC
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 ($/mt)
571.00
-8.50
579.50
NAF-1H-TYO
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 ($/mt)
561.00
-8.50
569.50
NAF-2H-TYO
OSN Naphtha Diff ($/mt)
10.00
0.00
10.00
NAF-TYO-DIF
Naphtha Netback FOB Sing ($/bbl)
61.44
-0.94
62.39
NAF-SIN
Naphtha-Brent Crack ($/mt)
88.98
-9.78
98.75
NAF-SIN-CRK
Gasoline 97 ($/bbl)
77.02
0.10
76.92
GL97-SIN
Gasoline 95 ($/bbl)
76.10
0.10
76.00
GL95-SIN
Gasoline 92 ($/bbl)
74.60
0.10
74.50
GL92-SIN
Gasoline crack ($/bbl)
10.33
-0.07
10.40
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 Trixie Yap; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

 ((trixie.yap@thomsonreuters.com;))