Naphtha Supplies Drop to Three-Month Low in Europe, PJK Says

Naphtha stockpiles held in independent storage fell to the lowest in three months in Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp oil-trading hub, according to PJK International BV.

Supplies decreased 18 percent to 108,000 metric tons in the week to today, the least since May 24, according to data from the researcher based in Breda, the Netherlands. Inventories dropped as refiners used more of the feedstock to make gasoline, Pieter Kulsen, founder of PJK, said today by phone.

“A lot of naphtha went into the gasoline pool and not into the petrochemical industry,” Kulsen said.

Gasoline stockpiles fell 6.7 percent to 688,000 tons as cargoes were exported countries including to China, Mexico and Nigeria, the data showed. European traders are destocking summer grade and building inventories of winter blend, he said.

Gasoil supplies slumped 6.3 percent to 2.32 million tons, the data showed.

The following table shows the weekly inventory changes in thousands of tons for gasoline, naphtha, fuel oil and jet fuel in independent storage in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp.

                           1,000 Tons   Change
Gasoline                          688      -49
Naphtha                           108      -23
Gasoil                          2,318     -156
Fuel Oil                          726       93
Jet Fuel                          336      -30

To contact the reporters on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net; Lananh Nguyen in London at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net