Naphtha Markets Summary
This past fortnight has seen a rejuvenated naphtha complex in both regions, with Eastern structure the slightly better performer.
The May NWE crack saw weakness continue in the opening days, down to lows of -$13.25/bbl on Apr 12. However, this level incited buying interest as prices rallied to -$10.40/bbl come close of Apr 22, as negative simple refinery margins supported straight run products such as naphtha.
In a similar vein, spreads in both regions saw a strong recovery across the two weeks. The front NWE and MOPJ spread rose from lows of $4.50/mt and $5.25/mt on Apr 12 to reach $9.50/mt and $10.50/mt come Apr 23.
May naphtha E/W has also witnessed support as prices climbed to close at $20.50/mt on Apr 22, on the back of initial trade house buying and short covering in MOPJ spreads. Notably, the correlation between prompt TC5 and naphtha E/W retraced back to 0.82 on Apr 18, before decreasing once again to display a correlation of 0.10 by Apr 22.
News
Latest ARA inventory data displayed a 177,000mt surge in naphtha stocks from 394,000mt to 571,000mt.
Europe 16 nations naphtha inventories rose by 2mbbls to 29mbbls in March.
Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has undertaken a 3-month turnaround of its petrochemical operations at the Chemelot industrial park in the Netherlands. Once this is completed, one of the operator’s two naphtha crackers will remain permanently shuttered.
On Apr 21, Bapco Refining confirmed that the operations to address the leakage in one of its Naphtha tanks in the Sitra area are nearing completion.
Revenues from Russian seaborne gasoline, kerosene and naphtha exports decreased by 11% in March.
