SINGAPORE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Asia naphtha spot buying activity for March cargoes stayed upbeat, as northeast Asian end-users continued to cover their regular requirements.
Multiple spot deals were done within the range of minus $5 a ton to premiums of $2-3 in the past two days for first-half March arrivals, mostly via procurement tenders.
Supply-wise, some traders were expecting lesser arbitrage flows to Asia going into March given the narrower east-west price spread and higher freight costs from before.
On the tenders front, Lotte Chemical sought for around 25,000 tons of naphtha for delivery in first-half March.
Naptha refining margins were mostly on a downward trend towards late week, settling at $78 per ton on Friday's market close, its lowest in slightly more than a week.
For gasoline, market sentiment was mostly cautious-to-bearish for the time being, some trader sources said, though fixed price values have rebounded slightly from before.
Octane-92 gasoline refining margins GL92-SIN-CRK closed the week at around $4 per barrel, recovering slightly from the previous session's weakness though remaining at one-year low levels.
Front-month timespreads for the octane-92 gasoline swaps market were at more than a five-year wide contango structure, where February values are lower than March values. MOG92SGSDMc1
INVENTORIES
- Gasoline stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp $(ARA)$ refining and storage hub fell by 6.4% on the week, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed on Thursday. ARA/
NEWS
- The Trump administration lifted some sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry on Thursday to make it easier for U.S. companies to sell its crude oil, and said more restrictions on the country would be lifted soon.
- U.S. refiner Valero Energy on Thursday kicked off the earnings season for U.S. refiners with strong fourth-quarter profits, on the back of a rebound in margins and higher throughput volume.
- Oil prices slipped on Friday on signs the U.S. may engage in dialogue with Iran over its nuclear programme, reducing concerns of supply disruptions from a U.S. attack, though prices were on track for large monthly gains as tensions have increased. O/R
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS
- No deal for gasoline and naphtha
PRICES
CASH | ASIA CLOSE | Change | Prev Close | RIC |
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 ($/mt) | 600.25 | -1.00 | 601.25 | NAF-1H-TYO |
OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 ($/mt) | 593.50 | -1.00 | 594.50 | NAF-2H-TYO |
OSN Naphtha Diff ($/mt) | 6.75 | 0.00 | 6.75 | NAF-TYO-DIF |
Naphtha Netback FOB Sing ($/bbl) | 64.69 | -0.11 | 64.81 | NAF-SIN |
Naphtha-Brent Crack ($/mt) | 77.88 | -2.80 | 80.68 | NAF-SIN-CRK |
Gasoline 97 ($/bbl) | 76.23 | 0.54 | 75.69 | GL97-SIN |
Gasoline 95 ($/bbl) | 75.76 | 0.75 | 75.01 | GL95-SIN |
Gasoline 92 ($/bbl) | 73.68 | 0.54 | 73.14 | GL92-SIN |
Gasoline crack ($/bbl) | 4.03 | 0.30 | 3.73 | 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 Trixie Yap; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
((trixie.yap@thomsonreuters.com;))