Asia’s fuel oil cash differentials were little changed on Friday as the spot market was stable amid a lack of fresh drivers, market players said.

Cash premiums hovered in thin premiums, with 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil down marginally at $6.40 a metric ton, while 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil was at $3.88 over Singapore quotes.

Fuel oil inventories at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading hub declined to 1.205 million tons in the week to Thursday, compared with 1.256 million tons in the prior week, Insights Global data showed.

OTHER NEWS

– Oil prices rose on Friday, on track to notch their first weekly rise in two months after benefiting from a bullish forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on oil demand for next year and a weaker dollar.

– China’s oil refinery throughput in November fell versus the previous month as independent refiners cut run rates amid weak margins and crude oil imports slowed.

– Parts of the river Rhine in south Germany, a major shipping route for oil products, remained closed on Friday after heavy rain and melting snow increased water levels, but could reopen later this weekend, navigation authorities said.

WINDOW TRADES O/AS

– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: 1 trade
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Varun H K)