Gasoline: Movements to procure cargoes continue in SE Asia

　Movements to procure cargoes continued in Southeast Asia continued. In the Philippines, Unioil conducted a buy tender for one MR-size cargo of 88RON gasoline for the first-half March delivery. A market participant pointed out that the company issues a buy tender every month and demand was not increasing.

　In talks on oxy gasoline, Petrolimex in Vietnam issued a buy tender for three 40,000 cubic meter cargoes of 95RON gasoline loading in late February, early March and mid-March.

　Indonesia state-owned Pertamina issued a buy tender for total 900,000bbl of 90RON gasoline for delivery in March. The company had moved on procurements for total 1.00mil bbl of 90RON gasoline this week. A market participant pointed out that it was likely that the company would not secure enough volumes through the previous procurements because the details of the current tender were almost same as the last one and the procurement volumes did not increase so much.

Naphtha: Chandra Asri restarts naphtha cracker operations

　The arbitrage cargoes from the Mediterranean Sea were getting fewer, which supported the market. The bad weather in the sea was affecting supply into Asia. In Europe, as for facilities, the ExxonMobil's Antwerp refinery with a capacity of around 320,000bbl-per-day reportedly shut down operations on Feb 1. According to a source, it would take around two months to restart operations.

　On the demand side, several naphtha crackers continued to cap the operational rates due to the weak olefins market. CPC Co in Taiwan shut down the No.4 naphtha cracker with an ethylene production capacity of 380,000mt-per-year (mt/y) on Wednesday. It was heard that the shutdown was scheduled until Mar 31. On the other hand, Chandra Asri in Indonesia resumed operation works of the naphtha cracker with a capacity of 900,000mt/y on Thursday. The company targeted to confirm olefins on-spec products within this week. The unit had started turnaround in mid-January.

Middle distillates: JPN sellers mull exports of Mar cargoes amid fewer flights between Japan/China

　Some Japanese oil companies considered selling cargoes loading in March. The kerosene demand season was expected to be over by February, and export availability of jet fuel was arising. It was also perceived as another factor for the ample availability that the number of international flights between Japan and China was declining as the Chinese government was asking Chinses people not to visit Japan. In January onward, the number of flights had been sharply falling not only to Kansai Airport, but to other local airports. Because of this, sales volumes of jet fuel by each refiner was on the decline, and market sources said that sales in February would not extend as expected. It was possible that a major refiner in the country would export some volumes from its refinery in West Japan.

　In South Korea, one oil company was moving to sell an MR-size cargo loading on Mar 6-10. It seemed to be a usual spec one with the low flash point. As reported, GS Caltex closed a tender to sell an MR-size cargo loading on Mar 26-30 on Thursday. Several sales from the country were witnessed in the market.

　The differentials for MR-size cargoes of 0.001% sulfur gasoil on an FOB Northeast Asia declined. Selling interest by oil companies in Northeast Asia was increasing on the back of high refining margins, which pushed down the market.

　Ahead of the end of the fiscal year in the country, oil companies in Japan were expected to sell cargoes in full-swing to digest their inventories. Meanwhile, Cosmo Oil had reportedly canceled a sale of a cargo loading in February. As the company had suffered from malfunctions of some units at its 100,000b/d Sakai refinery, it seemed to supply the volume to the domestic market. Cosmo shut down the crude distillation unit at the refinery for trouble on Monday, but no movements of the refiner to procure any oil products had yet to surfaced after the shutdown.

Fuel oil: Several Japanese refineries moving to sell cargoes

　In Japan, several oil companies were moving to sell prompt loading cargoes. Idemitsu Kosan tried to sell an MR-size cargo of 3.5%S fuel oil (180cst) loading from the end of February to early March. ENEOS Corp also moved to sell a co-loaded MR-size cargo of 3.5%S fuel oil and other specifications loading in February. But information about the deal was not confirmed.

　The strengthening market in Singapore because of tight supply supported prices on an FOB Northeast Asia basis. As reported before, selling interest grew in the Singapore market as Chinese buyers struggled to procure cargoes from Venezuela in the wake of uncertain international situations. Buying activities of traders also increased in the Middle East.