Naphtha Refiners Curb Output Cuts, Waning Demand Hits the Margins
Prices of Asia’s naphtha sank to 18-years low in the month of March as evaporating demand, hammered by the crash in crude has hard hit the feedstock market. The scenario turned more unfavorable for the Asian naphtha market after several Asian economies declared force majeure due to the lockdown measures taken to contain the spread of novel coronavirus that has created a havoc across the globe. Halt in economic and industrial activities has curtailed the gasoline and jet fuel demand that has exacerbated the refiners to introduce huge production cuts. Indian refiners had to revise their export and import tenders after the government announced nationwide lockdown till mid of the April month. This has prompted several Indian refiners such as ONGC Petro additions Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd to cut their crude throughputs while others had to withdraw their tenders. The lockdown has made the state-owned refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) postpone its month-long mai...