Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Gasoline recovers marginally from seven-month low

SINGAPORE, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Asia's gasoline crack recovered by 31% to reach a two-session high of $3.85 a barrel after it dived 37% to a 7-month low in the previous session as a deadly coronavirus spreading through the region dented demand.

- Industry sources said gasoline could still find support on possible refinery or secondary units' run cuts. "Currently, the weakness in gasoline and gasoil cracks will have refiners considering run cuts ... gasoline production can be curbed to make way for VLSFO (Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil) production," said Sandy Kwa of FGE.

- China will be adding even more refining capacity.

- China had already added 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity last year - 80% of Britain's refinery throughput - and analysts expect a further 460,000 bpd to become operational in 2020. NAPHTHA: Asia's naphtha crack hit a two-week high as the fuel is structurally short in the region.

- Despite petrochemical makers having cut runs by 5-10% and high volumes of cargoes arriving in January from the West including Europe and the Mediterranean, fundamentals were seen strong.

- India's BPCL sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha on late Tuesday for Feb 9-10 loading from Mumbai to Vitol at premiums of $34 to $34.50 to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

- Although these were some 10% lower versus premiums BPCL fetched previously from Vitol for a Jan. 7-8 cargo, the fresh prices were sharply higher than what they were a year ago where cargoes sold for February 2019 loading from India barely exceed $25 a tonne. NAP/TENDA

- South Korea's Hanwha Total was out to buy naphtha for first-half March arrival at Daesan but results were not immediately known.

* OTHER NEWS: South Korea's third-biggest refiner, S-Oil 010950.KS , has signed a contract to supply up to 15 million barrels of naphtha and up to 8 million barrels of gasoline to Aramco (SE: 2222 ) Trading Singapore between January and December 2020. CHEMICAL NEWS: Refineries under state oil and gas major Sinopec Corp 0386.HK are stepping up production of chemicals such as polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), raw materials used for making masks, surgical garments and dripping bottles, following the coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Wednesday. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) 2010.SE , the world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals firm, reported a net loss of 720 million riyals ($191.94 million) after tax, in the fourth quarter mainly due to lower average selling prices. CASH DEALS: Three gasoline deals and two on naphtha. O/AS LIGHT DISTILLATES

CASH ($/T)

ASIA CLOSE

Change

% Change Prev Close

RIC OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1

536.50

17.50

519.00 NAF-1H-TYO OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2

513.00

18.00

495.00 NAF-2H-TYO OSN Naphtha Diff

23.50

-0.50

37.50

24.00 NAF-TYO-DIF Naphtha Netback FOB Sing

57.10

55.16 NAF-SIN Naphtha Diff FOB Sing

63.27

2.94 NAF-SIN-DIF Naphtha-Brent Crack

85.45

11.26

76.80 NAF-SIN-CRK Gasoline 97

67.10

65.10 GL97-SIN Gasoline 95

66.10

64.15 GL95-SIN Gasoline 92

63.99

61.90 GL92-SIN Gasoline crack

30.95

2.94 GL92-SIN-CRK

For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please

double click the RICs below.

Brent M1

BRENTSGMc1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1

NACFRJPSWMc1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2

NACFRJPSDMc1

Naphtha CFR Japan M2

NACFRJPSWMc2

Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1

NAPTC4SPDMc1

Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2

NAPTC4SPDMc2

Naphtha FOB Sing M1

NAFOBSGSWMc1

Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2

NAFOBSGSDMc1

Naphtha FOB Sing M2

NAFOBSGSWMc2

Naphtha Cracks M1

NACFRJPCKMc1

East-West Naphtha M1

NAPJPEWMc1

East-West Naphtha M2

NAPJPEWMc2

NWE Naphtha M1

NAPCNWEAMc1

NWE Naphtha M1/M2

NAPCNWEASMc1

NWE Naphtha M2

NAPCNWEAMc2

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1

NAPCNWEACMc1

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2

NAPCNWEACMc2