NOON SNAPSHOT - Europe Markets Summary

24 March 2005 12:00  [Source: ICIS news]

BENZENE: Spot offers rose $45/tonne to $1,160/tonne cost insurance and freight (CIF) Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Antwerp (ARA) as news reached traders of the blast at BP’s Texas City isomerisation unit in the US Gulf. Bids lagged behind offers at around $1,120/tonne CIF ARA.

CRUDE: Prices were up on the back of a firm gasoline market following the explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery. May Brent was up $0.77at $53.81/bbl. May WTI was at $54.40/bbl, up $0.59.

NAPHTHA: Crack spreads were up Thursday to around 20-40 cents for April, on the back of higher gasoline and firmer crude following the Texas City refinery explosion. This put swaps prices at around $480-485/tonne cost, insurance and freight Northwest Europe for April and traders pegged notional spot physical prices about $5-10/tonne higher today at around $480-490/tonne CIF NWE.

MTBE: Late morning discussions were reported at $555-590/tonne FOB Amsterdam/Rotterdam (AR) for March/April delivery, up $15-35/tonne from Wednesday's close amid strong gasoline and energy values.

PARAXYLENE: Spot prices were reported up $10/tonne on Thursday morning at $990/tonne free on board (FOB) Rotterdam.

For a daily summary of key product price changes, see the late afternoon ICIS-LOR Daily Market Talk - Europe report.

 For more pricing intelligence please visit www.icislor.com

 

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