Russia's exports of naphtha to Singapore are on track to rise to their highest level this year in May as Russian refineries recover from drone attacks, traders and analysts estimated, with the trend poised to continue as more capacity comes online.

Singapore imports of Russian naphtha, a key ingredient for making petrochemicals such as plastics and textile fibres, will rise to about 415,000 metric tons in May, LSEG Research estimated, while consultancy FGE expects nearly 500,000 tons.

"The refinery (attack) impact wanes off through May and June, which is why we may expect higher exports from Russia," said Armaan Ashraf, global head of natural gas liquids at FGE. He was referring to drone attacks by Ukraine on oil processing facilities in Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.

Naphtha imports from Russia into Singapore rose in April to their highest this year at 329,955 tons. That pushed Singapore's total naphtha imports for April to 998,408 tons, up from 920,626 tons a year earlier, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

"The higher imports reflect blending demand for naphtha ahead of peak gasoline demand season in summer," a Singapore-based petrochemical trader said.

Naphtha can be blended directly into gasoline or refined to make blending components to meet octane specifications.

Rosneft's export-oriented Tuapse oil refinery, one of the largest in Russia's south, resumed processing earlier this month, with loadings expected to rise by about 16% to 180,000 tons in May as it restarts exports, according to trade estimates.

Novatek (NVTK.MM), opens new tab, meanwhile, plans to start test operations for a new 3 million metric tons-per-year processing unit at its gas condensate complex in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga in mid-June, which could enable it to increase naphtha exports to between 550,000 and 600,000 tons a month from 350,000 to 370,000 tons currently, Reuters calculations show.

（Picture: Veer）