Asia Naphtha/Gasoline-Naphtha firms, gasoline margins ease slightly

SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Asia's naphtha market was buoyed by firm gasoline blending margins, though petrochemical demand remained shaky even as some buyers sought to cover November requirements.

Naphtha refining margins inched up to about $184 a ton.

A Taiwanese buyer closed a tender on Thursday and bought about 30,000 tons of heavy naphtha at premiums of $60 a ton or more for November delivery.

At least two refiners were selling October-loading cargoes in the spot market, either on a free-on-board or delivered northeast Asia basis. Some shipping enquiries for cargoes loading from the Red Sea were also in the market for mid-October.

In gasoline, week-on-week support came from firm prompt regional demand and a cautious outlook on spot supply availability.

A regional procurement tender for octane-90 gasoline was awarded to a handful of Western trading houses at small, single-digit premiums for October delivery.

Octane-92 gasoline cracks eased nearly $2 from the previous session to about $48.60 a barrel, but they remained more than $10 higher week-on-week.

INVENTORIES

- Gasoline inventories were down about 12.5% from a year earlier at 890,000 tons, on higher exports across the Atlantic and to the Mediterranean. ARA/

NEWS

- Oil prices fell about 3% and European gasoil futures dropped more than 5% on Friday after reports of talks on additional diesel and crude stock releases, easing concerns over tight global energy supplies. O/R

- Vietnam's largest oil refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC, known as NSRP, has secured enough crude oil, mostly from Kuwait, to operate at 125% of designed capacity through to the end of November, general manager Le Nguyen Quoc Vinh said.

- China's suspension this month of exports of oil products to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau could tighten supplies to some of its biggest buyers, including Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

- No deal for gasoline or naphtha

PRICES