Crude oil prices are strong, and Asian petrochemical products hit hign

According to news from the ICIS website on February 24, Asia’s major petrochemical markets have hit a record high for many years. This is due to the interruption of US production due to winter storms and the activity of the Chinese market after the holiday that has promoted a strong increase in crude oil.

On Wednesday, the price of naphtha, the main raw material produced by Asia Petrochemical, was close to US$600/ton (Japanese customs cost plus freight), which was broken the day before, setting the highest price since December 2019.

At midday in South Korea, the price of benzene remained at the FOB price of US$846/ton, rising by more than 6% in two days.

Although industry data on Wednesday showed that US crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose last week and the strong upward momentum has stalled, oil prices remained at their highest level in nearly a year.

In midday, Brent crude oil fell 34 cents to 65.03 US dollars per barrel; US WTI crude oil fell 53 cents to close at 61.14 US dollars per barrel.

Last week, oil and natural gas production in Texas and other oil-producing states was shut down due to the polar cold current, affecting about 20% of the total capacity of US refineries (approximately 5.7 million barrels per day).

Since the beginning of this year, with the global promotion of the COVID-19 vaccine, general optimism about demand has caused oil prices to soar by more than 25%.

In the paraxylene (PX) market, due to the strong downstream purified terephthalic acid (PTA) market, crude oil prices rose sharply, and Asian prices hit a new high this week, reaching more than US$840/ton.

China May purified terephthalic acid futures contract rose 3.07% on Tuesday.

As the peak season for traditional demand approaches, the downstream polyester market in Asia has improved, adding a bullish tone to the paraxylene market.

In the isomer-grade mixed xylene (MX) market, regional prices have also rebounded due to strong upstream prices and the strong domestic market in China.

On February 23, the spot FOB price of mixed xylene in the Korean market increased by more than US$20/ton from the previous day.