(For Naphtha FOB Japan 12-month forward curve click:
here)
SINGAPORE, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Asian naphtha price rose to a
week-high on Friday, with cracks recovering marginally to reach
a three-session high despite a well supplied market.
A shut arbitrage window caused by stronger prompt European
demand and short-covering in Asia are temporarily supporting
sentiment, keeping crack spreads above $100.00 a tonne for
eight-straight sessions.
But traders by and large are not convinced that the strength
can be sustained as spot barrels from India are expected to stay
steady at around 850,000 tonnes.
Middle Eastern spot cargoes are also anticipated to keep
coming.
"The market strength comes from short covering and strong
European demand. But we are expecting some barrels to be lifted
from mid-September from the West coming to Asia," said a trader.
* Gasoline cracks were at a three-session high,
Taiwan's CPC offered 30,000 tonnes of 92-octane gasoline for
October loading in a tender, which closes on Aug. 31, with bids
to stay valid until Sept. 2.
The company sold 90,000 tonnes of spot gasoline at a premium
of around 20 cents a barrel to Singapore quotes on a
free-on-board (FOB) basis for September loading.
The volumes were higher than its usual at 30,000-60,000
tonnes a month as it did not have any term obligation to fulfil.
* SWAP SPREADS: The September/October FOB Japan contract
rose 88 cents to a backwardation of $1.88 a tonne by 0830 GMT,
with bids last seen at $1.50/$2.00 a tonne after by 1030 GMT.
October/November was up 38 cents to a backwardation of $1.00
a tonne and last bid/offered at 50 cents/$1.25 a tonne after the
close.
The September east-west spread shed 54 cents to be valued at
$13.95 a tonne by 0830 GMT, with no bids/offers seen after the
close.
* SWAP OUTRIGHTS: The September and October swaps were
valued at $665.50 and $663.63 a tonne, respectively, up $6.00
and $5.13 a tonne by 0830 GMT.
September was last bid/offered at $667.00/$669.50 a tonne
after by 1030 GMT.
* SWAP CRACKS: The front-month October crack was valued at a
discount of $1.02 a barrel to Brent crude, down by 11 cents.
* JAPAN OPEN-SPEC NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO: The price for front
month first-half October rose $6.50 to $671.00 a tonne, highest
since Aug. 20.
* BACKWARDATION/CONTANGO: The backwardation between
first-half October and first-half November widened 50 cents to
$5.00 a tonne.
* CRACK SPREADS: Cracks -- the profits or losses of
refining Brent crude into naphtha -- inched up $1.55 to $110.30
a tonne premium.
* NAPHTHA TENDERS: India's BPCL sold 30,000 tonnes to
Cargill for Sept. 8-10 loading from Mumbai at $14.49 a tonne
above Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
- HPCL sold 15,000-20,000 tonnes for Aug. 30-Sept. 1 loading
from Mumbai to Total, but premiums were not known.
- Indian Oil offered a total of 78,000 tonnes for September
loading in a tender that closes on Aug. 31, with bids to stay
valid until Sept. 1.
- These comprised 9,000 tonnes from Nagapattinam to be
co-loaded with 25,000 tonnes from Chennai on Sept. 20-23, 9,000
tonnes for Sept. 25-28 loading from Nagapattinam and 35,000
tonnes for Sept. 28-30 loading from Dahej.
* NAPHTHA CASH DEALS: Two deals, with JPMorgan having sold
two first-half November parcels at $666.00 a tonne each to Vitol
and Cargill.
* REFORMING MARGINS: Gasoline's premium to naphtha
GL92-SIN-DIF was down a tad by 3 cents to $5.90 a barrel.
* GASOLINE CRACKS: Cracks -- premiums/losses obtained from
refining Brent crude into gasoline -- edged up 4 cents to $3.74
a barrel.
* GASOLINE CASH TRADES: One deal, with ConocoPhillips
selling a 92-octane parcel for Sept. 11-15 loading to Vitol at
$78.50 a barrel.
PRODUCT Price Prev Change
OCT10 NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO 670.50/671.50 664.50 +6.50
SPOT NAPHTHA NETBACK NAF-SIN 72.55/72.65 71.87 +0.73
SEP NAPHTHA SWAPS (FOB Japan) 665.00/666.00 659.50 +6.00
OCT NAPHTHA SWAPS (FOB Japan) 663.50/663.75 658.50 +5.13
SPOT GASOLINE 97 UNL GL97-SIN 82.09/82.19 80.90 +1.24
SPOT GASOLINE 95 UNL GL95-SIN 80.25/80.35 79.06 +1.24
SPOT GASOLINE 92 UNL GL92-SIN 78.45/78.55 77.80 +0.70
SPOT 92RON/NAF GL92-SIN-DIF 5.85/5.95 5.93 -0.03
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng and Francis Kan;)
