SINGAPORE, Feb 14 Essar Oil Ltd ESRO.BO has sold one late February-loading naphth

SINGAPORE, Feb 14 (Reuters) Essar Oil Ltd has sold one late February-loading naphtha cargo to Japanese trading house Itochu via tender at a higher premium than its last sale, industry sources said on Wednesday.

The 28,000-30,000 tonne cargo for Feb. 22-23 loading was sold at a premium at mid-$20 levels to Middle East spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, one source said.

Essar last month sold two 28,000 to 30,000-tonne cargoes of naphtha for January loading -- one at below a $20-premium and the other at a $2-to-$3 discount to the same quotes, FOB.

The regional petrochemical feedstock market has picked up sharply in recent weeks, as India's exports have fallen below 500,000 tonnes for February and March loadings, against last year's average monthly shipments of about 520,000 tonnes.

For a full list of India's naphtha exports: [ID:nSP104109] The Brent/naphtha crack -- the premium paid for naphtha versus Brent crude -- hit a three-year high of $173-$174 a tonne last week.

Essar Oil's refinery is the second to be set up by a private firm in India's state-dominated oil sector, with top private company Reliance Industries Ltd. running a 660,000-bpd unit, also in western India.

Naphtha is the feedstock used to produce ethylene and propylene, the basic building blocks for the chemical sector.

REUTERS PV DS1302