Refining margins for fuel oil weakened slightly in Asia on Thursday, while Kuwait offered high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) for loading between March and June.
The refiner has been active in spot tenders in recent weeks, offering four cargoes of 380-cst HSFO for loading from end-March to June in a tender that closes on Thursday. Each cargo is 60,000 metric tons, trade sources said.
Benchmarks for fuel oil have been capped in Asia by ample supplies, with onshore inventories climbing to a three-week high, latest data showed.
Saudi Arabia became the top origin for arrivals into landed storage in Singapore in the week, followed by Russia and Oman. Meanwhile, top destinations for outflows were China and Indonesia, excluding volumes to storage hub Malaysia.
Cracks for 380-cst HSFO ended at a discount of $10.19 a barrel at the Asia close (0830 GMT), sliding from early Asia trade.
Meanwhile, cracks for very low sulphur fuel oil fell to a premium of $13.36 a barrel.
BUNKER SALES
Singapore’s February bunker fuel sales fell 8.1% from January to 4.51 million tons, official data showed on Thursday, weighed down by a seasonal demand lull and as some ships took longer to return to refuel amid Red Sea rerouting, trade sources said.
The decline was in line with a drop in vessel calls for bunkering, which slipped to a year’s low of 3,359 calls, while monthly container throughput was also at its lowest since last February, hitting 3.17 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
Meanwhile, monthly LNG bunker sales exceeded biofuel sales for the first time ever since Singapore’s port authority started publishing sales figures for alternative bunker fuels.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
