Reliance Industries and ONGC may lower their February naphtha exports due to maintenance of

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a mooring facility at the Hazira port which would affect loadings/unloadings of cargoes, traders said on Tuesday.

Two maintenance are scheduled to be carried out at the single point mooring (SPM), lasting about 10 days each. One will take place between late January and early February, and the other between the end of February and early March.

ONGC had skipped naphtha exports from the Hazira port for two months in February and March 2011 after maintenance at the mooring facility, owned by Reliance Industries.

"Lower exports from India will support the naphtha market as this will keep supplies tighter," said a trader.

ONGC typically caps its monthly naphtha exports from Hazira to three medium-range size cargoes totalling 105,000 tonnes. It has so far not sold any cargoes for February loadings from the port although it has sold 70,000 tonnes for January lifting.

Reliance on the other hand operates a cracker at Hazira, and traders are expecting the privately-run refiner to stockpile on naphtha feedstock before the maintenance starts.

That would likely result in Reliance having less for exports, they estimated.

Reliance is also shutting a crude distillation unit next month for a three-week maintenance.

It was not immediately clear how much Reliance would export next month, but it has so far sold around 55,000 tonnes of naphtha for February and around 110,000 tonnes for January.

It usually exports a monthly average of 180,000-200,000 tonnes.