Platts to launch Dec 1 assessments for East Asia-delivered naphtha from commercial tanks of all origins, including Russia

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will launch new assessments effective Dec. 1, 2023, for naphtha cargoes delivered into East Asia from commercial tanks of all origins, including Russia, as part of its commitment to bring transparency to new markets.

The new all-origin outright price assessment, to be published in $/mt, represents the value of commercial tank cargoes of 25,000 mt meeting Platts CFR South Korea naphtha specifications delivered on a CFR basis to East Asian countries, 45-75 days forward from the day of publication.

In addition to the outright price assessment, Platts will launch a corresponding spot cash differential for naphtha CFR East Asia (commercial tanks) reflecting 25,000 mt cargoes for delivery to East Asia 30-60 days forward from the date of publication and expressed as a differential against the benchmark Mean of Platts Japan naphtha assessment.

The new assessments will reflect trades on a cost-and-freight basis at good ports across East Asia, normalized to CFR South Korea basis.

Platts C+F South Korea naphtha specifications are defined as follows:

PropertyUnitStandard

Paraffins% volMin 70

Specific gravity at 60 deg Fg/ml0.65-0.74

Reid Vapor PressurepsiMax 13

Sulfurwt.ppmMax 650

Initial boiling pointdeg CMin 25

Final boiling pointdeg CMax 204

Chlorine contentwt.ppmMax 1

Mercury wt.ppbMax 1

Arsenicwt.ppbMax 20

Olefins% volMax 1

N-paraffins% volMin 30

ColorSayboltMin +20

Leadwt.ppbMax 150

Total oxygenateswt.ppmMax 50 (eg: TAME, MTBE and/or ETBE)

Carbon Disulfidewt. ppmMax 3

Data from Enterprise Singapore showed that exports of naphtha, reformate and other blendstocks from Singapore to East Asia including South Korea, China and Taiwan have more than doubled to 2.3 million mt over January to September 2023, from 937,219 mt in 2022.

Details of the new assessments are as follows:

Symbol Description Currency/UOM

CFRCT00 Naphtha CFR East Asia (Commercial Tanks) $/mt

CFRCT03 Naphtha CFR East Asia (Commercial Tanks) differential $/mt

CFRCD00 Naphtha CFR East Asia (Commercial Tanks) Monthly Average $/mt

CFRCD03 Naphtha CFR East Asia (Commercial Tanks) differential Monthly Average $/mt

Platts will publish the new assessments in the Asia-Pacific/Arab Gulf Market Scan and PGA and PRF pages 2302 and 2340.

Please send all comments or questions to asia_products@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.