MARKET EYE: Naphtha Heads to US for Gasoline Blending

摘要

Bumper US gasoline demand is fuelingheavy trans-Atlantic trade in naphtha from Europe, prompt-ing European petrochemical producers to shun overpricednaphtha in favor of cheaper propane.Traders said a combination of strong US demand for gaso-line blending stocks and weak European ethylene crackinginterest was behind recent trans-Atlantic naphtha bookingsby Swiss trader Vitol, US bank Morgan Stanley and Norwe-gian oil company Statoil. Together, they will move at least100,000 tons of naphtha trans-Atlantic from Northwest Eu-rope this month.