Qatar's Tasweeq keeps high premiums, buyer opts out

Tasweeq is keeping its plant condensate premiums for third quarter at about $21 a tonne above Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, unchanged from second-quarter, causing a buyer to forego the parcels for the stated period due to the high prices, traders said on Thursday.

Some 50,000 tonnes of plant condensate - or light naphtha - could be offered as a spot cargo as a result.

This may help offset a supply void after Saudi Aramco's Rabigh naphtha for July loading was found tainted with MTBE, a gasoline additive.

"Tasweeq had initially wanted to raise the third quarter premiums higher by a dollar or two versus second-quarter, but buyers resisted with one deciding not to take it up," said a trader.

Tasweeq has some four customers in the plant condensate contract.

"Premiums above $20.00 a tonne are too risky for traders to accept," said another trader.

This is because spot premiums on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis in South Korea have fallen to about $2.50-$3.00 a tonne for July cargoes, compared to as high as $11.00 a tonne C&F for second-half May cargoes.

Cracks, the premiums of losses obtained from refining Brent into naphtha, were at $117.88 a tonne on Wednesday, compared to this year's peak on Jan. 15 at around $178.00 a tonne.

Tasweeq, the trading arm of Qatar Petroleum, was in Singapore in the week of May 26 to discuss third-quarter prices.

The state-owned firm reviews prices every quarter.