US spot benzene was talked roughly 8 cents/gallon lower Thursday on the back of falling crude prices.
Market talk was pegging bezene at 367 cents/gallon FOB USG for June, about 2.1 % lower than Wednesday's assessment. Benzene was down 6 cents/gallon week on week.
June offers opened at 373 cents/gallon FOB USG before falling to 372 cents/gallon FOB USG later in the day. There were no corresponding bids or trades reported.
July offers started the day at 375 cents/gallon FOB USG and moved down to 371 cents/gallon before rebounding to 373 cents/gallon FOB USG by early afternoon. July bids opened at 360 cents/gallon and rose to 364 cents/gallon by the afternoon. There were no July trades heard.
Multiple sources pointed to the fall in NYMEX crude and RBOB as major influences in the lower benzene price. NYMEX August crude futures settled down $4.39/barrel to $91.02/barrel, while July RBOB moved down 13.57 cents/gallon to close at 283.76 cents/gallon.
The plunge in the NYMEX energy complex was said to be on the International Energy Agency's announcement earlier in the day of their third-ever release from its emergency oil reserve.
Specifically, the agency is calling for 60 million barrels of crude oil to be released into the marketplace, with 30 million coming from the United States' Strategic Petreoleum Reserve.
A rally by the US dollar and unfavorable global economic data also weighed on the energy complex.
Based on preliminary market data, Platts data showed the benzene-to-crude ratio -- what sources say is an indicator of benzene production profitability -- grew to 1.693, the highest point since May 26, when it was at 1.711. Market participants said a ratio of at least 1.7 is considered favorable for benzene producers.
The benzene-to-toluene differential -- another indicator of benzene production profitability, according to sources -- was preliminary pegged at 15 cents/gallon after starting the week at 8 cents/gallon Monday.
