India’s BPCL sells naphtha cargo at $46/tonne premium

05 February 2009 07:42  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) sold its February naphtha cargo at a premium of $46/tonne (€36/tonne) to Middle East quotes, the highest so far this year, industry sources said on Thursday.

The Middle East numbers are on FOB (free on board) Mumbai basis.

The 30,000 tonne high aromatics naphtha (HAN) cargo will be for lifting over 21-25 February. The buyer is still unknown.

The premium trashed BPCL’s previous record when it sold a similar cargo for lifting over 8-12 January at a premium of $40/tonne to Middle East quotes FOB Mumbai last month.

Last year’s record was held by Indian Oil Corp (IOC), who sold an open spec naphtha cargo at a premium of $37/tonne to Middle East quotes FOB Chennai for lifting over 1-4 August.

India’s naphtha exports have been dwindling given tight supply conditions, as domestic power stations have been turning to naphtha as substitute for the more expensive liquefied natural gas

The country’s naphtha exports in January and February were pegged at around 300,000tonnes per month, down from an average of 500,000 tonnes per month in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In the last three months of 2007, its monthly naphtha exports averaged 800,000-1m tonnes.

Premiums in Asia had been firming on the back of healthy demand from northeast Asian end-users.

($1 = €0.78)

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By: Desmond Chia
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