Spot prices for cargoes of North Sea mixed butane have weakened over the past few days as demand has fallen away, industry sources said Tuesday.
During summer some North Sea mixed butane is used as feedstock in the gasoline-related sector for the production of alkylate and MTBE, with other product going into the petrochemicals sector as an alternative feedstock to naphtha.
However, sources said most of the gasoline-related requirements for June had now been covered.
"The demand is just not there," a trader said.
Buying interest from petrochemical companies for North Sea butane was also reported to be very limited, with less expensive barge and coaster butane available.
Petrochemical companies in Northwest Europe also have a preference for cheap propane as a feedstock rather than butane.
Based on Platts data, the last published CIF price for North Sea propane Monday was $140/mt below the CIF naphtha price, while the equivalent discount for North Sea mixed butane was $95/mt.
Spot prices for CIF North Sea mixed butane have fallen by $185/mt during May, falling from just under $930/mt to a last published level Monday of $742.5/mt.
The CIF butane/CIF naphtha price ratio has also fallen, from 94.8% at the beginning of this month to a last published level Monday of 88.7%, again based on Platts data.
