Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are some of the top stories from ICIS Asia and the Middle east for the week ended 23 August 2013.

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Focus – Asia naphtha market gets relief from arbitrage window closure
Asia’s naphtha market is getting some relief from further inflows of surplus deep-sea cargoes, now that arbitrage economics to move western material eastwards are no longer viable, traders said on Friday.

Focus – China amines seen firming on tight supply, plant shutdowns
Spot prices of monoethanolamines (MEA), diethanolamines (DEA) and triethanolamines (TEA) in China may continue rising in response to tightening supply amid plant maintenance in the country and overseas, market participants said on Thursday.

Focus – Asia naphtha spreads dwindle on ample supply, cracker shutdowns
Naphtha’s price spreads and crack values in Asia are set to weaken as the regional market is awash with supply amid outages and impending turnaround at regional crackers, traders said on Wednesday.

Focus – Asia caustic soda to stay weak near term on lacklustre demand
Spot caustic soda prices in Asia are likely to stay weak in the near term as demand has remained sluggish, industry sources said on Tuesday.

India’s GAIL firms up $6.4bn investment plan for new projects
Indian gas transportation and logistics major GAIL India Limited is planning to invest $6.42bn (€4.81bn) over the next three years to build new projects in the petrochemicals and fertilizer sectors, a company official said on Monday.

Kuwait’s KPC sells 125,000 tonnes spot naphtha for Sept loading
State-owned oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has sold 125,000 tonnes of spot naphtha for loading in September, traders said on Thursday.

Bahri, Saudi Aramco, SembCorp team up to develop maritime yard
The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), oil firm Saudi Aramco and Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine are teaming up to develop a maritime yard in the Middle Eastern country, Bahri said on Tuesday.