Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline cracks rise on improved demand outlook

South China Holdings

16/04/2021 12:03

SINGAPORE, April 16 (Reuters) - Asia's gasoline cracks rose to a six-session high on Friday,
buoyed by narrowing inventories, a stronger demand outlook and signs of economic recovery in
China and the United States.
    The gasoline crack climbed to $6.91 a barrel on Friday, up 10 cents from the previous
session and $6.52 a barrel at the start of the week.  GL92-SIN-CRK     
    The bullish sentiment offset concerns of rising COVID-19 infections in some other major
economies. India's infection rate hit a record high while Germany's chancellor said on Friday a
third wave of the virus has the country in its grip.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N2D400M
        
    NAPHTHA 
    Asia's naphtha crack also firmed, climbing to a near three-session high of $90.58 a tonne,
up from $87.40 a tonne in the previous session. The naphtha crack was at $91.63 a tonne on
Monday.  NAF-SIN-CRK 
    Refinery turnarounds in North Asia weakened the demand outlook for naphtha as steam crackers
were taken offline, trade sources said.
    
    INVENTORIES
    Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA)
refining and storage hub rose 1% to a two-week high of 1.259 million tonnes in the week ended
April 15, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.  STK-GL-ARA 
    Gasoline stocks rose 1% due to stronger imports even as exports to the U.S. East Coast
remained strong.
    ARA gasoline stock hit a nine-week low of 1.247 million tonnes in the week before. 
    Naphtha inventories in ARA jumped 38% to a two-week high of 308,000 tonnes, the data showed.
 STK-NAF-ARA 
    The ARA naphtha stocks sank to a near 14-month low of 223,000 tonne in the week to April 8. 
    Elsewhere, light distillate inventories in the Fujairah hub fell 3% to a near five-month low
of 6.011 million barrels while those in Singapore rose 1% to an four-week high of 14.74 million
barrels, the latest data showed this week.  O/SING1 ,  FUJAIRAH/ 
    U.S. gasoline inventories rose 309,000 barrels in the week to April 9 to 234.9 million
barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with analysts'
expectations for a 786,000-barrel rise.​  EIA/S 
    
    TENDERS
    Pakistan's PSO bought two of three 50,000 tonne 92 RON gasoline cargoes for delivery over
May 12-26 from an unknown supplier at an unknown price level. 
    For more information, please see  NAP/TENDA .
    
    CHINA 
    China's 2021 net crude oil imports are forecast to grow 3.4% this year versus 2020 to about
559 million tonnes, according to a research arm of state oil and gas group China National
Petroleum Company.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N2F501H
    CNPC also sees China's refined fuel exports to expand nearly 32% this year to 54.7 million
tonnes. 
    Domestic fuel demand is expected to continue its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic,
said the group, which pegs gasoline use to grow 0.8% this year and aviation fuel to rise 13%,
though diesel will ease 0.8%.
        
    CASH DEALS  O/AS : Six gasoline deals, one on naphtha.

    ASSESSMENT
 LIGHT                                                                        
   DISTILLATES                                                                
 CASH ($/T)                     ASIA CLOSE      Change  % Change  Prev Close  RIC
 OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1       593.00          9.75    1.67      583.25       NAF-1H-TYO 
 OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2       588.00          12.25   2.13      575.75       NAF-2H-TYO 
 OSN Naphtha Diff               5.00            -2.50   -33.33    7.50         NAF-TYO-DIF 
 Naphtha Netback FOB Sing       63.89           1.08    1.72      62.81        NAF-SIN 
 Naphtha Diff FOB Sing          0.40            0.00    0.00      0.40         NAF-SIN-DIF 
 Naphtha-Brent  Crack           90.58           3.15    3.60      87.43        NAF-SIN-CRK 
 Gasoline 97                    77.89           0.99    1.29      76.90        GL97-SIN 
 Gasoline 95                    76.36           0.99    1.31      75.37        GL95-SIN 
 Gasoline 92                    73.90           0.97    1.33      72.93        GL92-SIN 
 Gasoline crack                 6.91            0.09    1.32      6.82         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 Roslan Khasawneh;)
 ((roslan.khasawneh@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
roslan.khasawneh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))