Naphtha tender gets highest bid since March 2013

Bangladesh Petroleum Corp (BPC) will sell 170,000 barrels of naphtha to Vitol Asia at premiums of US$1.32 a barrel to Singapore quotes, the highest since March 2013, amid tight prompt supply, as Reuters reports.

Vitol Asia offered the best price for the cargo among eight firms that competed for the tender, as per a BPC official. Last week state-owned BPC postponed the lifting of the cargo to Aug. 16-18 from Aug. 3-5 due to low production at its sole refinery, adding to the bullish sentiment despite the cargo size being small.

The delay came at a time when Asian naphtha crack for second-half August rose 9% on Tuesday to a multi-year high, supported by persistently tight supplies. BPC sold a same-size cargo to MRI Trading in May at a premium of US$1.15 a barrel to Singapore quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. In March 2013, a BPC naphtha tender attracted a premium of US$2.39 a barrel to Singapore quotes from the Singapore arm of Chinese trader Unipec.

BPC resumed exports of naphtha in November after a four-month hiatus for maintenance and repairs at its refinery. Apart from exporting, BPC sells naphtha domestically to privately owned Super Petrochemical. BPC had earlier finalised second-half term contracts for refined oil products at mostly unchanged premiums.