Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin inched lower on Wednesday as crude prices jumped about 1%, but the drop was limited by hopes of a recovery in petrochemical demand in China.
The crack was down 5 cents at $63.38 a tonne, while the backwardation was steady at $7.25 per tonne, Eikon data showed.
“The relaxation of the (COVID-19) policy in China should support naphtha intake to boost chemicals output,” the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its monthly report.
Physical markets were devoid of naphtha and gasoline deals, but a flurry of bids for benchmark-grade motor fuel lifted the crack to a more-than-four-month high of $12.11 a barrel over Brent crude on Wednesday.
INVENTORIES
– Light distillate stocks at the Fujairah hub rose for a second straight week to a more-than-four-month high of 7.883 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 16, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.
REFINERY NEWS
– Japan’s Cosmo Oil 55021 plans to shut the 75,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) No.1 crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Chiba refinery for planned maintenance in the autumn and 100,000-bpd CDU at its Sakai refinery in western Japan from the summer to the autumn for a scheduled turnaround, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
– Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co 5019 plans to shut the 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Aichi refinery around autumn for scheduled maintenance.
It also plans to shut the 155,000 bpd No.3 CDU at its Yokkaichi refinery around May-June and the 190,000 bpd CDU at its Chiba refinery around April-June for a planned turnaround, sources told Reuters.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
