Asia spot fuel oil premiums eased on Thursday following a recent uptick, while the market eyed a couple of regional supply tenders.
India’s BPCL offered 25,000 tons of 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) for loading at Mumbai between October 15 and 16, market sources said. The tender will close on Friday.
Separately, Indonesia’s Pertamina offered two cargoes of residual fuel for October loading, each of 200,000 barrels.
This included a cargo of marine fuel oil for Sungai Pakning loading between October 26 and 27, as well as a cargo of low-sulphur waxy residue for Balikpapan loading between October 30 and 31, shipping records showed.
Spot offers for October-loading 380-cst HSFO also softened on Thursday, weighing on the product’s cash premium, while very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) was broadly stable.
Meanwhile, cracks traded rangebound day-on-day. VLSFO’s November crack (LFO05SGBRTCMc1) closed at a premium of $7.87 a barrel, while 380-cst HSFO crack (FO380BRTCKMc1) closed at a discount of $3.87 a barrel, data compiled by LSEG showed.
In Singapore, onshore fuel oil stockpiles rebounded after three weeks of drawdown, official data showed on Thursday, led by higher arbitrage imports. Brazil, Russia and Nigeria were the top supply origins for the week’s inflows into storage tanks.
INVENTORY DATA
– Singapore residual fuel inventories (STKRS-SIN) climbed 7.7% to 24.56 million barrels (3.87 million metric tons) in the week to October 1, according to Enterprise Singapore data.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices edged higher on Thursday following losses in the previous three sessions, as concerns about more disruption to Russian crude exports lent some support, though concerns about oversupply in the market capped gains.
– The Group of Seven nations’ finance ministers said on Wednesday they will take joint steps to increase pressure on Russia by targeting those who are continuing to increase their purchases of Russian oil and those that are facilitating circumvention.
– Fuel oil imports to the U.S. Gulf Coast surged to a two-and-a-half-year high in September, driven by a jump in cargoes from the Middle East, as refiners seek alternatives to dwindling Venezuelan crude supplies, according to preliminary ship tracking data, analysts and a refinery source.
– Demand for liquefied natural gas as a marine fuel will at least double by 2030 as abundant supply and rising emissions regulations spur orders for ships that can run on it, industry executives said.
WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: One trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters
