Asia's gasoline crack started the year at a 20 cents per barrel premium, down from 39 cents on Friday, pressured by heavy supplies. The naphtha crack also fell, dropping to $50.13 a tonne, making this the lowest since December 19 as buyers kept to the sidelines after purchases in late December.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha to BP in late December for January 18-20 loading from Chennai at premiums around $22 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The fresh premium was not only more than double the $10 a tonne IOC fetched for a cargo loading from the same port over December 23-25, but it was also the highest premium IOC had garnered for a cargo sold out of Chennai since August 2018.

Copyright Reuters, 2019