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Naphtha Crack keeps shrinking / Naphtha Backwardation Slope

Naphtha Crack keeps shrinking / Naphtha Backwardation Slope

May 17, 2024

The cracks on the European naphtha markets continued to narrow and the backwardation increased sharply. Meanwhile, the East-West gap shrank for the day. The market sentiment for naphtha remained positive due to expectations of the summer driving season, which will increase demand for naphtha for gasoline blending. The growing gasoline-naphtha differential supported the use of naphtha in gasoline blending. This difference between the front-month swap for gasoline and its equivalent naphtha was $213.25/mt on May 16, an increase from $211.50/mt. A Europe-based trader stated that European naphtha supplies remained "well supplied [with] additional US Gulf Coast volumes coming by the month's end." The demand is also a little better, they said, citing an increase in blending pull. The trader noted that the arbitrage of US naphtha cargoes originally planned for...

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