Asia Gasoline/Naphtha-Open-spec at 2-week high

SINGAPORE, July 21 (Reuters) - Asian naphtha prices were at
their highest in two weeks, and although cracks marginally
improved on spot demand from South Korea, the market remained
saddled with supplies.

Weaker fundamentals were reflected in the latest spot deal,
with Honam Petrochemical buying 25,000 tonnes of naphtha from
PetroChina for second-half August arrival at Yeosu at a discount
of $3.00 a tonne to Japan spot quotes on a cost-and-freight
(C&F) basis.

The price was at its lowest in about two months.
[ID:nSP405228].

It also bought 8,000-15,000 tonnes of the feedstock from
Trafigura for the same period arrival at Daesan, but price
details were not immediately known.

"Refinery run cuts are underpinning the naphtha cracks, but
the naphtha market is weak for the time being," said a South
Korea-based trader.

Close to 1.7 million tonnes of spot naphtha will be
delivered to Asia next month from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Europe,
the United States, Meditarannean and India.

These levels are comparatively high versus around 1.4
million spot naphtha seen from the West, Kuwait and India for
July deliveries.

As for gasoline, traders were reeling from shock after
China premliminary data showed that the country exported 560,000
tonnes of gasoline in June. [ID:nPEK122556].

"That's like 19 cargoes. China's exports are at most around
300,000 tonnes a month," said a Singapore-based trader.

Nevertheless, cracks managed to hold at the $4-plus a barrel
premium level, as some traders expect July exports from China to
fall below 200,000 tonnes. [ID:nSP249603].

* JAPAN OPEN-SPEC NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO: Prices for front
month first-half September edged up $1.00 to $575.00 a tonne,
highest since July 7.

* BACKWARDATION/CONTANGO: The half-month backwardation
between first- and second-half September held on at $1.00 a
tonne, while the intermonth backwardation remained steady at
$2.00 a tonne versus $8.00 a tonne at the start of the month.

* CRACK SPREAD: Cracks -- the profits or losses of refining
Brent crude into naphtha -- inched up 11 cents to $76.93 a
tonne.

* NAPHTHA CASH DEALS: No deals for the second straight day.

* REFORMING MARGINS: Gasoline's premium to naphtha
GL92-SIN-DIF rose 5 cents to $8.56 a barrel.

* GASOLINE CRACKS: Crack spreads -- premiums/losses obtained
from refining Brent crude into the autofuel -- rose 3 cents to
$4.74 a barrel premium.

* GASOLINE TRADES: In cash trading, ConocoPhillips sold a
97-octane cargo for Aug 9-13 lifting at $76.10 a barrel to
Trafigura.

- Separately, Shell sold a 92-octane parcel for Aug 16-20
loading to Morgan Stanley at $71.15 a barrel.
PRODUCT Price Prev Change
SEP09 NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO 574.50/575.50 574.00 +1.00
SPOT NAPHTHA NETBACK NAF-SIN 62.54/62.64 62.49 +0.10
AUG NAPHTHA SWAPS NAF-1M-S 62.05/62.25 62.10 +0.05
SEP NAPHTHA SWAPS NAF-1M-S 61.75/61.95 61.85 0.00
SPOT GASOLINE 97 UNL GL97-SIN 76.05/76.15 75.95 +0.15
SPOT GASOLINE 95 UNL GL95-SIN 73.18/73.28 73.08 +0.15
SPOT GASOLINE 92 UNL GL92-SIN 71.10/71.20 71.00 +0.15
SPOT 92RON/NAF GL92-SIN-DIF 8.51/8.61 8.51 +0.05
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Keiron Henderson)