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  • Sep 20th, 2017
  • Comments Off on Asian naphtha demand to stay firm on limited LPG
Asia's naphtha crack was at a three-session high of $97.83 a tonne on Monday as demand was expected to stay strong amid a lack of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a cheap alternative feedstock, traders said. LPG can be used to replace at least 5 percent of naphtha in some of Asia's cracker but recent disruptions to LPG shipments to the East due to the hurricane season has sharply dented supply in the market.

This, coupled with demand and already seemingly tight supplies from the United States even before the hurricane season struck, had pushed LPG prices above those of naphtha. Buyers of naphtha from South Korea, Asia's top importer, have recently wrapped up purchases for cargoes scheduled for second-half October delivery. At least one Asian buyer was looking to buy first-half November cargo, trade sources said.

Asia's gasoline crack was largely stable at $12.51 a barrel on Monday, versus $12.50 in the previous session. This was down from $16.34 a barrel on August 31, which also marked the highest in 19 months, following a massive amount of refining capacity being taken offline in the US Gulf because of Hurricane Harvey. Kenya's oil importers are seeking over 400,000 tonnes of oil products for delivery over November to early December. Of these, almost 33 percent or 131,140 tonnes were gasoline.



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