Asia’s spot market for key fuel oil grades held rangebound in single-digit premiums on Wednesday, while market structure weakened compared with the previous day.
Cash premium for 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) MFO05-SIN-DIF dipped to $5.75 a metric ton, while 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) edged higher at $4.83 a metric ton.
Meanwhile, front-month refining cracks fell day-on-day amid an uptick in crude futures.
VLSFO cracks slipped to a premium of $12.51 a barrel, while HSFO cracks dipped to discounts of $10.28 a barrel, based on LSEG data.
CHINA DATA
China’s fuel oil imports fell in November to 1.21 million tons, while exports for bunkering declined to 1.31 million tons, customs data showed on Wednesday.
Imports retreated in November due to high inventory levels, following a jump in October, industry sources said.
Exports of low-sulphur marine fuel fell in line with softer trends at other global bunker hubs such as Singapore and the UAE’s Fujairah.
INVENTORIES
Fujairah inventories FUJHD04 rose 19.6% to 11.29 million barrels (1.78 million tons) in the week to Dec. 18, showed FOIZ data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil futures extended gains on Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the situation in the Red Sea after recent attacks by Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militants.
– Israeli forces pounded the shattered Gaza Strip on Tuesday while Yemen’s Houthis vowed to defy a U.S.-led naval mission and keep targeting Red Sea shipping in support of the Palestinian enclave’s ruling Hamas movement.
– Nikolai Tokarev, the head of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, said on Wednesday that oil shipments to China rose to around 100 million metric tons (2 million bpd) in 2023.
– Finnish oil refiner and biofuels producer Neste expects to invest some 2.5 billion euros ($2.74 billion) to convert its Porvoo crude oil refinery to a biofuels production facility, the company said on Wednesday.
WINDOW TRADES O/AS
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: One trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)