Asia’s spot market for very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) softened for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, a sign that the recent rally has started cooling off.
Trading house Gunvor bought the product at a lower premium from the previous day, while multiple offers continued to emerge from other trading houses.
Singapore’s cash premium for 0.5% VLSFO (MFO05-SIN-DIF) was pegged lower at $17.68 a metric ton to cargo quotes, while front-month July/August backwardation timespread narrowed to $17.05 a ton at the Asia close (0830 GMT).
The product’s front-month refining margin (LFO05SGDUBCMc1) also eased, closing at a premium of $13.14 a barrel on Wednesday.
Kuwait’s Al Zour recently closed its term tender at a discount narrower than $20 a tonne to 0.5% VLSFO cargo quotes, on a free-on-board basis, trade sources said.
Asia’s high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) market remains range-bound in thin trading momentum. The spot 380-cst HSFO cash premium (FO380-SIN-DIF) was pegged at $2 a ton on Wednesday, while front-month refining margin (FO380DUBCKMc1) closed higher at a discount of $8.47 a barrel.
FUJAIRAH INVENTORIES
Fujairah fuel oil inventories rebounded 5% to 9.81 million barrels (1.55 million tonnes) in the week to June 19, showed Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights on Wednesday.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices rebounded on Wednesday, recovering after two straight sessions of losses, as expectations of hawkish Federal Reserve talk later in the day and possible U.S. crude stock drawdowns outweighed China demand worries.
– Indian fuel retailers could consider cutting petrol and diesel prices in the next quarter if the global situation remains stable, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri told broadcaster NDTV.
– Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has approached German plastics and chemicals maker Covestro AG with a takeover proposal worth more than 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion).
– The Biden administration plans to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation’s fuel mix over the next three years, but the plan includes lower mandates for corn-based ethanol than it had initially proposed.
Source: Reuters