Naphtha

It was a colorful sight, Mr. Bartell.

Naptha flares lighted the grouped tents, and caravans dotted around the edge of the marsh.

And as gold-earring gypsy girls told fortunes and danced, swarthy gypsy men played on their violins the haunting melodies of their ancestors.

[gentle music] We watched the sideshows for a few moments and then strolled towards the center of the gypsy encampment.

Naphtha goes into the gasoline blending pool and into the petrochemical industry, where it has many uses, such as to make plastics.

Europe is a net exporter, mostly from the Mediterranean, with those exports headed to Asia, which is the world's largest petrochemical demand hub.

Naptha, like all oil products, rose to record levels at the start of the Strait of Hormuz supply disruptions.

Platts, Naptha, Sif, Northwest European Cargos, the benchmark in Europe, rose from under $500 per metric tonne in January to over $1,000 per metric tonne in April, and now sits at around $760 per metric tonne as the crisis continues.

So in terms of the Strait of Homs supply disruptions, I mean, the US war with Iran kicked off at the end of February, and that's when prices really started to rise across refined oil products.

You know, what are you seeing in terms of flows with respect to those disruptions now, Barbara?

Yeah, so as mentioned, this move was driven primarily by the strength in the naphtha market where prompt availability remains significantly more constrained than propane, which has really high U.S. exports, kind of keeping its supply in Europe a lot more comfortable.

I see.