SINGAPORE, Jan 25 Essar Oil Ltd ESRO.BO has sold its second January-loading napht

SINGAPORE, Jan 25 (Reuters) Essar Oil Ltd has sold its second January-loading naphtha cargo to Glencore at a high premium, compared to the slight discount fetched for its previous sale, traders said on Thursday.

The 28,000-30,000 tonne cargo was sold at a premium of less than $20 a tonne to Middle East spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, for Jan. 18-20 loading, traders said.

Essar Oil earlier this month sold a similar cargo containing a minimum 60 percent of paraffinics for Jan. 3-4 loading at minus $2-$3 a tonne to Middle East spot quotes, on an FOB basis.

''The prompt naphtha market is really tight, having no spot offers from Middle East refiners, while Indian exports have been slowing down,'' a Singapore-based trader said, pointing to naphtha's premiums to Brent crude that are at three-year highs.

Essar Oil's plant is the second-biggest private refinery in India's state-dominated oil sector, with top private company Reliance Industries Ltd. running a 660,000-bpd complex, also in western India.

A senior Essar Oil official said on Tuesday the company had fully shut down its refinery in Gujarat until Jan. 26 so that new units can be integrated with existing ones. But exports had not been affected by the closure, he said.

Once work is completed, capacity at its Vadinar plant will be stretched to 160,000 bpd from 150,000 bpd, and the unit should be functioning at full steam of 210,000 bpd by the end of March, the official said.

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