Saudi Aramco rollovers May propane prices to Asia as weak demand persist

Saudi Aramco has reportedly opened the May contract price for propane to Asia at an unchanged level from April amid dull demand conditions. The rollover effectively halted the two months of sharp declines, still, industry participants are not optimistic.

Meanwhile, the minor increase of $10/ton on the butane contract signals short-term bullish development, sources said, but the longer-term demand prospect remains bearish. 

The latest offer stands at $555/ton, FOB from the port of Ras Tanura.

The price provides a benchmark against which Middle East sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Asia are priced. 

The producer’s price list for propane and butane are shown in the following table:

Propane is a primary feedstock used by propane dehydrogenation (PDH) operators in producing propylene monomers.

In recent weeks, a number of steam crackers in Asia have switched to using more LPG in relation to naphtha to improve production margins, however, the demand from this sector is still not strong enough to steer the pricing.