Asia’s cash premium 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) fell to a 10-week low on Thursday, while backwardation timespreads narrowed further amid sell-offs.
The Singapore 0.5% VLSFO premium slipped to $8.52 a metric ton, while cracks eased to $10.04 a barrel.
The balance-Dec/Jan timespread for VLSFO narrowed to $6.95 a ton on Thursday, compared with $9 a ton a day before, as more selling interest emerged, traders said.
Meanwhile, the high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) market also softened. The spot 180-cst market fell into a deeper discount, while the cash premium for 380-cst grade narrowed.
Refining margin for 380-cst HSFO fell to discounts of $11.14 a barrel.
SINGAPORE INVENTORIES
Residual fuel oil inventories at Singapore dropped to three-week lows, after net imports fell sharply from last week, data showed Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks edged 3.4% lower to 18.85 million barrels (2.97 million metric tons) in the week to Dec. 6, latest data from Enterprise Singapore showed.
Imports from the West and the Middle East retreated this week, the data showed, with most of Singapore’s fuel oil imports hailing from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Source: Hellenic Shipping New
