SINGAPORE: Kuwait Petroleum Corp sold full-range naphtha for August 2010 to July 2011 loading to Asian buyers at a lower premium, traders said on Friday, as weak petrochemical margins and ample arbitrage supplies dampened sentiment.
At least one buyer accepted the deal at $21 a ton to Middle East quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, but two trading firms have opted out, they said.
Japanese end users were likely to have picked up the term supplies, but others were still mulling purchases, traders said.
A more than $20 a ton premium is too expensive for any naphtha, a trader said.
A second trader said the high premium would mean a huge loss for trading companies who have already committed to selling term cargoes at much lower prices. On the other hand, the premium would have less impact on end users who were lifting small volumes of Kuwaiti naphtha, he said.
The previous record KPC has achieved in talks was a $22 a ton premium, FOB, for supplies lifting April 2010-March 2011.
Kuwait holds three rounds of talks for term supplies.
Buyers usually include Japan’s Marubeni, Mitsubishi Chemical and Maruzen, India’s Haldia, Taiwan’s CPC and South Korea’s Hanwha.
