The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co will shift its April 2013-March 2014 naphtha term cycle forward by a month, changing it to a May 2013-April 2014 term cycle instead, Asian naphtha trade sources said Friday.
Should the term be brought forward, it would be in line with the Middle Eastern company's decision last year to change its January-December 2013 term contract into a February 2013-January 2014 cycle, Platts reported earlier. Reasons for that change could not be confirmed at the time, nor could it be ascertained if the change would be a permanent one.
"ADNOC settled its previous term [the February 2013-January 2014 cycle] in December last year and the company usually likes to keep to a three-month gap between term discussions, so talks for the next cycle [the May 2013-April 2014 term] will most probably be held sometime in March," a market participant said Friday.
ADNOC has not yet informed its term customers of a date for its upcoming talks for the May 2013-April 2014 cycle.
ADNOC sells naphtha via three term contracts -- all 12-month cycles. Apart from the usual January-December and April-March term contracts, it also has a July-June cycle. It is not known yet if the refiner will likewise delay its July-June cycle by a month.
For its February 2013-January 2014 cycle, ADNOC settled on a premium of $34/mt for its paraffinic naphtha grade, and premiums of $32/mt for its low sulfur and splitter naphtha grades. All were priced to the ADNOC formula which takes the average of FOB Arab Gulf naphtha assessments by Platts and Petroleum Argus.
For its April 2012-March 2013 cycle, the Middle Eastern refiner inked premiums at $25.50/mt for its paraffinic grade, and premiums of $23.50/mt for its low sulfur and splitter grades. All were priced to the ADNOC formula.
