East-West naphtha spread reaches record high

The Europe-Asia naphtha spread hit a record high on Tuesday of $42/t on weakened European petrochemical demand from the coronavirus pandemic, Platts reports.

Demand for naphtha has been weak in Asia for over a month, but it was holding its value better than in Europe. European naphtha demand was low for both petrochemical demand for open-specification naphtha and gasoline blending demand for light virgin naphtha. The wide spread could attract more European cargoes to go to Asia.