European naphtha drops below $1,000/mt on crude, weak demand

The price of physical open-spec naphtha in Northwest dropped below $1,000/mt Tuesday assessed, for the first time since mid-May, according to Platts data. Prices fell to $989.75/mt with the move being largely driven by falling crude oil values, as front-month ICE Brent approached a 10-week low of $123/barrel at the end of the European trading day. Despite the lower flat price, the market was devoid of any buying interest from either the petrochemical crackers, which are using more competitively priced LPG, or the gasoline blenders, who are faced with weak demand, traders said. "Other products are going down as well," said a source. "LPG is still more attractive for petchems and [the] gasoline/naphtha spread is still too narrow." "Naphtha is not a competitive feedstock at the moment," he said. "People have sufficient... [read full story]