State-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) sold 350,000 tons of naphtha for September-December loading from Suez, with JPMorgan sweeping up 60 percent of the volumes, traders said on Thursday. JPMorgan will be lifting six cargoes, each at 35,000 tons, at premiums of $2.00-$5.00 a ton to Middle East quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Glencore took two parcels, each for November and December at premiums of about $4.00-$5.00 a ton FOB, while Gunvor bought a cargo for December at around $6.50 a ton FOB. Mabanaft took the October parcel but premiums were not immediately clear. "Every buyer has a different price," said a trader. But the overall prices this time round were lower than what EGPC had fetched in late June for 420,000 tons sold for July-December loading from the same port at $3.00-$12.50 a ton FOB. Cracks, the premiums/losses obtained from refining Brent crude into naphtha, were almost at a three-month high, but traders brushed it aside saying that the strong cracks were not fundamentally driven as the Asian market remained well-supplied.
