Asia's open-specification naphtha fell to an almost one week low of $36.35 a tonne on Thursday following muted demand as the Lunar New Year drew some buyers away. Asia's gasoline crack was at a discount of 97 cents a barrel to Brent crude, with the current value having strengthened against a discount of $1.27 a barrel on Monday before the market closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Demand from India could have given the market some support, traders said, although not enough to turn the market around as oversupply persisted across regions of Singapore, the United States and Europe. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has an outstanding tender seeking a total of 900,000 tonnes of gasoline for April to December arrival at Ennore, Vizag and Mundra.

Bharat Petroleum Corp was also looking to import gasoline but for a 35,000-tonne cargo scheduled for March 1-12 arrival at Kochi through a tender closing on February 12. India is moving towards Euro-VI compliant fuel next year and refiners are expected to shut their refineries to prepare for the next wave of cleaner fuels. HPCL is looking to sell up to 24,000 tonnes of naphtha for February 27 to March 1 loading from Mumbai through a tender closing on February 7. Bids are to stay valid until February 8.

Copyright Reuters, 2019