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Haldia Petrochemicals seeks local Indian naphtha supplies in the middle of Red Sea disruption, CEO says

India's Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is seeking to source feedstock naphtha from domestic refiners to protect itself from unstable shipping costs set off by ship attacks in the Red Sea, the business's chief executive officer stated on Wednesday.

The business, which owns a naphtha cracker producing 700,000 metric heaps each year in the eastern state of West Bengal, sources 50% of its feedstock from the Middle East and depends on regional refiners like Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL for the rest of its feedstock needs.

While freight costs have actually now come off highs after increasing 30-40%, there is no certainty that costs will not rise again in the next 12 months, HPL's CEO Navanit Narayan informed .

It adds a lot of volatility to our imports and we are looking at domestic markets for buying feedstock, he included.

Clean Petroleum Product (CPP) tanker rates on the Middle East to Asia path have boiled down to about $70-$ 90 per metric load in recently of March, compared with about $110 per load previously this year, trade sources said.

Narayan stated the company utilizes lighter grades of naphtha as feedstock and that makes it difficult to buy in big quantities from local refiners who process Russian crude.

Naphtha produced from Russian crude is slightly heavier, while Middle East manufacturers like Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ( ADNOC) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) supply high quality light naphtha, he added.

On petrochemical margins, Narayan said overcapacity internationally is weighing on earnings even though demand for petrochemicals like paints and pipes is steady compared with last year.

He anticipates petrochemical margins in India to recuperate after the very first quarter in 2025.

While the company exported a few of its polymers to South East Asia and Africa earlier this year, he stated, export margins are not as rewarding at present.

A great deal of it depends on healing in the Chinese economy ... likewise, the problem is a great deal of petrochemicals in Europe and Asia which depend on old technologies are not shutting down, he said.

The market as a whole will perform better if consolidation takes place in next 2 or four years as is currently happening in Japan, Narayan included.

(source: Reuters)