Oil products bearish RI woes

Oil products bearish RI woes

TOKYO (Reuters): The Tokyo oil products market was bearish
yesterday on concern near-term demand from Indonesia could fall
due to the social unrest there, traders said.

"Gas oil seems to be most affected purely because of the sheer
volume Indonesia imports every month," one trader said.

Indonesia, China and India are the region's three heavyweight
gas oil buyers.

Open-spec naphtha for second-half July was assessed at
$157/$158 per ton in afternoon trade. On Thursday, it was traded
at $160.50 and $158.

The backwardation in inter-month spreads has mostly
disappeared, with both the first-half and the second-half of July
pegged flat, traders said.

In term talks for Aramco cargoes, the price for ethylene-rich
A-180 was set at $11 per ton over the Aramco formula for the
July-December period, down from a $12 premium in the first half
of 1998.