Asia’s high sulphur fuel oil market remained under downward pressure on Friday, with cash premiums and refining cracks posting weekly declines.

The 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) cash premium fell to $5.75 a metric ton, as offers dipped from the previous day.

The product’s refining margin for October closed lower at a discount of $10.79 a barrel at 0830 GMT, sliding by more than 15% from last week.

HSFO prices have come under downward pressure as seasonal demand tapers off in the Middle East, while China has also been buying less barrels compared to previous months.

Meanwhile, the spot very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) market rebounded slightly at the end of the trading week.

Cash premium for 0.5% VLSFO inched higher at$2.82 a metric ton, though October crack eased to a premium of $8.70 a barrel at 0830 GMT.

ARA INVENTORIES

Inventories at ARA rose 9.7% to 1.15 million tons in the week to Sept. 14, latest data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

METHANOL BUNKERING

– Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce “green methanol”, the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world’s first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel.

– OCI Global, the world’s biggest producer of green methanol, plans to double the production capacity at its Texas facility to 400,000 metric tons per year, the company said in a statement.

OTHER NEWS

– Oil prices are set for a third weekly gain on Friday, as better-than-expected Chinese economic data and reports of record oil consumption bolstered the view that demand in the world’s second-largest crude consumer will continue to surge.

– China’s oil refinery throughput in August rose to a record, data showed on Friday, as processors in the world’s second-largest crude consumer kept run rates high to meet summer travel demand and capitalise on strengthening export margins.

– India’s Reliance Industries said on Thursday that it plans to temporarily shut three units at its plant in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat for planned maintenance and inspection activities.

– A luxury cruise ship that ran aground this week in a remote Greenland location with 206 people on board has been pulled free by a trawler, a spokesperson for Denmark’s armed forces said 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)