Asia’s spot fuel oil market was little changed on Thursday amid thin window trade, while some Southeast Asian tenders were still underway.
The cash differential for 0.5% very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) was pegged at a discount of 1.75 a metric ton on Thursday, steadying after sliding to more than two-year lows over the previous session.
Multiple sellers continued to offer the product on the spot market, while bids remained absent as with the previous day.
The product’s front-month crack extended declines to a premium of $6.14 a barrel.
Meanwhile, cash differential for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) was little changed at a premium of $12.75 a ton, while front-month crack firmed to a discount of $7.36 a barrel on Thursday.
In tenders, Thailand’s PTT offered 35,000 tons of VLSFO for August loading, while Thai Oil offered two stems of HSFO of 18,000 tons each. Both tenders close on Thursday.
Separately, Indonesia’s Pertamina could have offered 200,000 barrels of heavy vacuum residue for loading in end-August.
CHINA FUEL OIL
China’s June fuel oil imports hit the highest level for a month so far in 2023, buoyed by firm purchases of Russian oil, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.
Total fuel oil imports in June were at 2.70 million metric tons, up 5% from May and more than triple from June 2022.
SINGAPORE INVENTORIES
Onshore fuel oil stocks STKRS-SIN fell 3% to 17.81 million barrels (2.80 million metric tons) in the week to July 19, data from Enterprise Singapore showed, while weekly net imports nearly halved week-on-week at 563,000 metric tons.
Kuwait was the top origin of Singapore’s fuel oil imports in the week, with net import volumes at 144,000 metric tons, while South Korea became the top destination for fuel oil exports out of Singapore in the week, with volumes of 139,000 metric tons.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices crept higher on Thursday as a lower-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories and a weaker demand outlook kept investors cautious.
– China’s imports of crude oil from Russia hit an all-time high in June, Chinese government data showed on Thursday, with refiners continuing to snap up Russian ESPO even as discounts against international benchmarks narrow.
– India’s imports of Russian oil edged up to an all-time high in June, though growing at the slowest pace since October, tanker data obtained from trade sources showed on Wednesday, signaling its appetite for Russian oil may have peaked.
– Chinese state-owned energy giant Sinopec’s natural gas production in the first half of 2023 rose 7.6% from a year before to 666.1 billion cubic feet, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange released on Thursday.
WINDOW TRADES O/AS
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)