Spot fuel oil premiums were largely stable on Tuesday, with a couple of trades done at rangebound levels near the previous day’s closing premiums.
Singapore 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) traded at a premium of $4.50 per ton to cargo quotes, while cash premium for 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) was pegged above $12 per ton.
Discussions in the broader market thinned nearing the end of the month. However, the market structure for September and October months remained firmer, with backwardation widening for both 380-cst HSFO and 0.5% VLSFO.
Reflecting some prompt tightness in September, the Sept/Oct VLSFO timespread widened to $17.50 per ton, while 380-cst HSFO timespread widened to about $11.50 per ton, data from market sources showed.
INCOMING SUPPLIES
Fuel oil arrivals totalled close to 6 million tons in August, edging higher compared with July, calculations based on LSEG’s ship-tracking data showed.
The uptick was led by a jump in intra-regional supplies, which breached more than 1 million tons this month, while arrivals from the West and the Middle East also increased versus the previous month.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices slipped slightly on Tuesday, after rebounding more than 7% over the previous three sessions on supply concerns prompted by fears of widening Middle East conflict and potential shutdown of Libyan oil fields.
– Mexican state oil firm Pemex’s newest refinery processed some 65,046 barrels per day of crude oil in July, its first month of operations after multiple delays, and just over 30,000 bpd of diesel and coke.
– Kuwait’s largest petrochemicals producer, Equate Petrochemical Company, has selected banks for a planned sale of seven-year Islamic bonds, or sukuk, the IFR fixed-income news service reported on Tuesday.
– Australia’s Woodside Energy reported on Tuesday a decline of 14% in half-year profit, hit by lower oil prices, but the result and its dividend beat market expectations, sending shares up 4%.
WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: One trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: One trade
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Pooja Desai)