SINGAPORE: Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) sold 34,500 tonnes of naphtha for May 18-19 loading from Hazira to Unipec at premiums of close to $21 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said on Wednesday.
This could not be directly confirmed as sellers and buyers usually do not comment on their deals.
The fresh premium was 19 percent lower than a cargo sold out of Hazira for early May loading from the same port to Total, Reuters data showed.
It was also the lowest seen in over two months as the last time ONGC had fetched a lower premium than this was when it sold an early February cargo from Hazira at $7 to $8, also to Unipec.
ONGC also exports naphtha from Mumbai.
Traders said the market has been volatile due to a lack of clear direction but overall sentiment was geared towards the bearish mode.
“Other than strong gasoline demand and the lack of liquefied petroleum gas, there’s no other key reasons to support naphtha,” said a trader.
Depending on its grade, naphtha can be reformed into gasoline or be used as a gasoline blendstock other than being used as a petrochemical feedstock.
LPG on the other hand can replace up to 15 percent of naphtha in some of Asia’s petrochemical units.
