Asia Gasoline/Naphtha-Open-spec at week high

SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) - Asian naphtha prices rose for
the fourth-straight session, hitting their highest level in one
week, while cracks recovered marginally, but were still below
levels seen at the start of the month due to higher supplies.

Saudi Aramco sold a rare parcel comprising 40,000 tonnes of
light naphtha from Yanbu, and 15,000 tonnes of A310 grade from
Jeddah for July 23-27 lifting to a European trader at a premium
around $15.00 a tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
[ID:nSP404797].

"From what I understand, Aramco may have slightly increased
their light naphtha grade due to higher crude throughput," said
a Northeast Asian trader.

Although it was just 55,000 tonnes, Saudi Aramco's spot
cargo came at a time when Kuwait was also pushing out high
volumes of spot naphtha because of a delay in the start-up of
its new aromatics plant.

Kuwait sold an additional 75,000 tonnes of full-range
naphtha late Thursday to Itochu and Shell at a premium of $8.00
a tonne to Middle East quotes FOB, bringing its total August
spot exports to slightly more than 270,000 tonnes, not far from
its record-high levels at 300,000 tonnes each in May and July.

The new premium is 2.5 times lower than what it fetched a
week ago. [ID:nSP401979].

"Clearly, the market is falling," said the same trader.

As for gasoline, crack spreads extended gains as some
traders expect China to lower its exports, which was initially
forecast at a minimum of 300,000 tonnes in July. [ID:nSP249603].

* JAPAN OPEN-SPEC NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO: Prices for front
month first-half September climbed $5.00 to $549.00 a tonne,
highest since July 9.

* BACKWARDATION/CONTANGO: The half-month backwardation
between first- and second-half September held on at $1.00 a
tonne, while the intermonth backwardation was also 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 -- climbed 12 cents to $78.50 a tonne,
markedly lower versus nearly $98.00 a tonne at the start of the
month.

* NAPHTHA CASH DEALS: In cash trading, Shell bought a
first-half parcel from Trafigura at $554.00 a tonne, after it
bought a second-half September cargo, also from Trafigura, on
Thursday at $548.00 a tonne.

* REFORMING MARGINS: Gasoline's premium to naphtha
GL92-SIN-DIF gained 24 cents to $8.53 a barrel.

* GASOLINE CRACKS: Crack spreads -- premiums/losses obtained
from refining Brent crude into the autofuel -- rose 15 cents to
$5.40 a barrel premium.

* GASOLINE TRADES: In cash trading, Arcadia bought a
92-octane cargo from ConocoPhillips for Aug 1-5 lifting at
$68.80 a barrel, versus $68.00 a barrel it paid a day ago for a
July 31-Aug 4 lifting parcel from Glencore.

- Separately, Shell bought a 97-octane cargo for Aug 3-7
lifting from Glencore at $73.35 a barrel.
PRODUCT Price Prev Change
SEP09 NAPHTHA NAF-1H-TYO 553.50/554.50 549.00 +5.00
SPOT NAPHTHA NETBACK NAF-SIN 60.22/60.32 59.71 +0.56
AUG NAPHTHA SWAPS NAF-1M-S 59.95/60.15 59.40 +0.65
SEP NAPHTHA SWAPS NAF-1M-S 59.65/59.85 59.10 +0.65
SPOT GASOLINE 97 UNL GL97-SIN 73.30/73.40 73.05 +0.30
SPOT GASOLINE 95 UNL GL95-SIN 70.80/70.90 70.08 +0.77
SPOT GASOLINE 92 UNL GL92-SIN 68.75/68.85 68.00 +0.80
SPOT 92RON/NAF GL92-SIN-DIF 8.48/8.58 8.29 +0.24
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Keiron Henderson)