NWE benzene weakens vs naphtha, but sentiment stays firm for Feb

摘要

London — Spot Northwest European benzene prices weakened compared with feedstock upstream naphtha Wednesday, although market sources were still confident of the ongoing strength of benzene in Europe for February. Spot benzene prices for February slipped by over $10/mt to trade at $1,270/mt for a 1,000 mt CIF ARA barge Wednesday afternoon, compared with rising values in upstream naphtha. The CIF NWE front-month naphtha crack has rallied recently on news of Western refinery closures, peaking at an eight-month high of minus $1.85/b on Friday, January 27, after news of an FCC outage at ConocoPhillips?