Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline stays below $7/bbl; LG Chem buys H1 April naphtha

LG Chem

10/03/2025 10:30

NEW DELHI, March 10 (Reuters) - Asia's gasoline markets lingered near over one-month lows, mirroring the weakness in global markets as traders exercised caution over U.S. tariff uncertainty.

The crack traded at $6.90 per barrel over Brent crude, the lowest level since Jan. 27.

However, traders expected cracks to gain steam in April due to healthy summer demand. On the supply side, they said Chinese and northeast Asian exports are likely to be lower.

The naphtha market remained steeply backwardated at $14.50 per ton and the refining profit margin was down by about $2 to $103 per metric ton over Brent crude.

Lotte Chemical Indonesia bought second-half April naphtha at a premium of $2 per ton to CFR Japan via a tender, market sources said, adding that the procurement was made for trial runs.

Meanwhile, market participants said South Korea's LG Chem is bringing online its Daesan cracker and has bought 25,000 tons of naphtha for first-half April arrival at a premium of $14-$15 per ton to CFR Japan. The cracker was closed with other downstream units after a power failure on Feb. 25.

NEWS

- China's newest refiner Shandong Yulong Petrochemical is expected to start test operating its second crude oil processing unit late this month, trading sources with knowledge of the plant's operations said.

Yulong has also started up a 1.5 million metric ton-per-year (tpy) ethylene unit, one of the largest of its kind and one of the two units at the site, since December last year.

- Oil prices held steady on Monday as concern over the impact of U.S. import tariffs on global economic growth and fuel demand, as well as rising output from OPEC+ producers, cooled investor appetite for riskier assets. O/R

PRICES

CASH
ASIA CLOSE
Change
Prev Close
RIC
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 ($/mt)
631.00
1.00
630.00
NAF-1H-TYO
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 ($/mt)
616.50
1.00
615.50
NAF-2H-TYO
OSN Naphtha Diff ($/mt)
14.50
0.00
14.50
NAF-TYO-DIF
Naphtha Netback FOB Sing ($/bbl)
68.11
0.11
68.00
NAF-SIN
Naphtha-Brent Crack ($/mt)
103.00
-1.85
104.85
NAF-SIN-CRK
Gasoline 97 ($/bbl)
79.55
0.15
79.40
GL97-SIN
Gasoline 95 ($/bbl)
78.55
0.15
78.40
GL95-SIN
Gasoline 92 ($/bbl)
77.30
0.30
77.00
GL92-SIN
Gasoline crack ($/bbl)
6.90
-0.08
6.98
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 Mohi Narayan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

 ((Mohi.Narayan@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))