Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) have sold up to 65,000 tonnes of April naphtha at $34 and $28 a tonne respectively, the highest premiums fetched for naphtha sold out of Dahej and Mumbai for the sellers in over eight months.

IOC sold up to 30,000 tonnes for April 12-14 loading from Dahej to Chinese trading firm Unipec at a premium of $28 a tonne to the refiner’s own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

This was the highest price fetched for a Dahej cargo since July last year. IOC also exports naphtha from other ports including Chennai and Kandla.

ONGC, on the other hand, sold 35,000 tonnes for April 15-16 loading from Mumbai to Japanese trader Petro-Diamond at a premium of $34 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis, the highest seen for a cargo sold out of Mumbai by the Indian seller since June 2014.

ONGC also exports naphtha from Hazira.

Strong demand for naphtha in the absence of alternative liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) due to higher prices of the latter, coupled with the refinery maintenance season in India and the Middle East, have depleted supplies.

Qatar had unexpectedly cancelled the sale of 75,000 tonnes of naphtha for late April loading while traders expect lower volumes from India due to maintenance at Reliance Industries this month, followed by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in April and Essar Oil in May.

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Sunil Nair)