Overview
Naphtha Summary
The naphtha swaps market remains largely lacklustre as market players seek direction in the market. A drone attack on the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk took the second-largest exporting terminal of Russian naphtha offline briefly. This added to supply-side concerns, with the Eastern market already grappling with pressured exports from Russia’s Ust-Luga terminal since drone attacks in August, alongside an attack on the Tuapse oil terminal earlier this month. This widened the naphtha East/West (Mean of Platts-Japan vs Northwest European naphtha) above $35/mt this week. This level remains the M1 E/W’s highest level historically for this time of the year. However, steam cracker margins in Asia for naphtha-based units remain pressured. Moreover, loadings have resumed at the Novorossiysk as of 16 Nov, as per LSEG data. Flow-wise, trade houses remain net sellers of the E/W against Onyx, despite trimming this position this week. These players may revert to selling the spread as the supply-side picture improves in the medium term, especially amid expectations of rising Middle Eastern exports further into Q4’25 following refinery maintenance.
