Spot fuel oil markets in Asia posted steeper discounts on Monday as the market structure weakened.
Singapore’s very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) cash differential sank into a discount wider than $3 a metric ton to cargo quotes.
Meanwhile, 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) slipped back into discounted territory after a temporary recovery to a premium last week.
The market structure weakened as plentiful supply continued to weigh on prompt loading dates.
As for spot tenders, India’s HPCL offered 380-cst HSFO for loading in end October to early November. The tender closes on Tuesday.
REFINERY UPDATES
– Mexico’s national oil company Pemex completed the shutdown of multiple units at its 312,500-barrel-per-day Deer Park, Texas, refinery on Thursday to begin a multi-unit overhaul, people familiar with plant operations said.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices rose on Monday as investors focused on potential talks between the presidents of the United States and China that could ease trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies and oil consumers.
– China’s crude oil imports rose 3.9% in September from a year earlier as refineries operated at their highest utilisation rates this year.
– A supertanker carrying oil to the Chinese port of Rizhao in Shandong province changed its destination from there over the weekend after the U.S. imposed sanctions on an import terminal at the port on Friday, LSEG data shows.
– Saudi Aramco can sustain crude oil production at 12 million barrels per day (bpd) for a year without incurring additional costs, Chief Executive Amin Nasser said on Monday.
WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: One trade
– 380-cst HSFO: One trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters
