SINGAPORE, Jan 20 (Reuters) -

Asia's naphtha markets started recording March spot activity, with more buyers expected to emerge later in the week, though premiums were rangebound, while gasoline markets remained depressed.

Cracking margins for the petrochemical feedstock

started Monday higher at $76 a ton, reversing most of the previous session's losses.

Spot March purchases were done by GS Caltex at mostly high single-digit premiums up to slightly more than $10 per ton to CFR Japan quotes, with some trade sources attributing the large-sized purchases month-on-month to upstream refinery maintenance.

Discussion levels are expected to be little changed for March cargoes as buyers remain hesitant to meet higher offers in the near term given squeezed petrochemical production margins.

On spot tenders front, Indian refiners such as Indian Oil and BPCL were both offering at least four 35,000 metric tons of naphtha for February loading. Both refiners are scheduled to close their tenders today with same-day validity.

Gasoline markets remained slightly depressed as ample supplies continued to be a key driver in the near term, with some traders still saying that blendstocks inventories are high in Asia.

Some selling pressures from two major traders late last week, with some swing cargoes being involved in the mix, further exacerbated the oversupplied situation.

Refining margins for the motor fuel fell below $4 a barrel at the market's close, hitting a three-month low.

There are some movements of gasoline blendstocks to the west, given the possibly wider arbitrage window for forward cargoes, one trade source said, as sellers attempt to try and mitigate the supply glut situation here.

Globally, February U.S. prices were still the highest while Europe and Asia prices were mostly flattish against each other, LSEG pricing data showed.

Slightly lower February exports from China capped overall market weakness, with some traders estimating volumes to fall to below 400,000 metric tons - nearly half from this month's estimate - because of squeezed export margins.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

- One octane-95 gasoline deal; one naphtha deal

REFINERY NEWS

- Marathon Petroleum Corp began restarting the resid hydrotreater (RHU) at its 631,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas on Friday, people familiar with plant operations said.

OTHER NEWS

- Oil prices fell on Monday as expectations of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump relaxing curbs on Russia's energy sector in exchange for a deal to end the Ukraine war offset concern of supply disruption from harsher sanctions.

- China's crude oil imports from top supplier Russia were up 1% in 2024 to a record high versus 2023, while purchases from Saudi Arabia dropped 9%, data showed on Monday, as refiners chased discounted Russian supplies to cope with weakened margins.

PRICES

CASH ASIA CLOSE Change Prev Close RIC

OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M1 680.25 -6.25 686.50

($/mt)

OSN Naphtha CFR Japan M2 675.00 -6.25 681.25

($/mt)

OSN Naphtha Diff ($/mt) 5.25 0.00 5.25

Naphtha Netback FOB Sing 73.58 -0.69 74.28

($/bbl)

Naphtha-Brent Crack ($/mt) 86.63 9.36 77.28

Gasoline 97 ($/bbl) 86.30 -3.57 89.87

Gasoline 95 ($/bbl) 84.45 -5.15 89.60

Gasoline 92 ($/bbl) 3.92 -83.13 87.05

Gasoline crack ($/bbl) 5.82 0.00 5.82

For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please double click the RICs below.

Brent M1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1

Naphtha CFR Japan M1/M2

Naphtha CFR Japan M2

Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M1

Naphtha Japan-Sing Netback M2

Naphtha FOB Sing M1

Naphtha FOB Sing M1/M2

Naphtha FOB Sing M2

Naphtha Cracks M1

East-West Naphtha M1

East-West Naphtha M2

NWE Naphtha M1

NWE Naphtha M1/M2

NWE Naphtha M2

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M1

Crack NWE Naphtha-Brent M2

*Sing refers to Singapore

(Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Eileen Soreng)

((trixie.yap@thomsonreuters.com;))