Qatar’s Tasweeq has cancelled a sale tender for 75,000 tonnes of naphtha for April lifting from Ras Laffan, due possibly to an outage at a condensate splitter which has been scheduled to shut next month, traders said.

The state-owned firm operates a 146,000 b/d condensate splitter in Ras Laffan.

The unit produces naphtha, jet fuel and diesel and is scheduled to be taken down for maintenance from April 11 for one to two weeks, the sources said.

This could not be immediately confirmed with Tasweeq, which also has a naphtha contract for cargoes lifting in the second quarter at a premium in the high teens per tonne level to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

“The splitter has been in operations on and off,” said an industry source who said there was an outage but did not give details.

Traders added that Tasweeq this month had recently sought a rare light gasoil cargo for delivery into Mesaieed for April 25-26.

“It’s very rare for them to import gasoil,” a Gulf-based trader said.

Source: Trade Arabia