HPCL offers max 120KT April/May naphtha

SINGAPORE, Mar 29 (Reuters) Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has issued a tender to sell up to four 25,000-to-30,000-tonne cargoes of naphtha for late April and May loading from Vizag, a trading source said on Thursday.

With these cargoes, India's naphtha offers for April will exceed the country's monthly average of 520,000 tonnes last year.

For February and March loading, India's monthly exports were below 500,000 tonnes, triggering supply shortages in the region and helping buoy naphtha's premium against Brent crude to a record-high of 0 a tonne earlier this month. The premium eased to 0 on Wednesday.

The latest tender will close on Friday, and its details are as follows: TONNE LOADING/PORT 25,000-30,000 April 21-23/Vizag 25,000-30,000 May 8-10/Vizag 25,000-30,000 May 17-19/Vizag 25,000-30,000 May 28-30/Vizag HPCL earlier this month awarded its naphtha export tender for three 25,000-to-30,000-tonne cargoes to Japanese trading house Itochu for April loading, while it cancelled one cargo offer for late March loading. [ID:nSP241599] Naphtha is the feedstock used to produce ethylene and propylene, the basic building blocks for the chemical sector.

REUTERS CS RN1650