Asia’s spot fuel oil benchmarks steadied on Wednesday after the market’s recent downtrend, while overall trading momentum was largely thin.
Spot premium for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) inched slightly higher on Wednesday, after slumping to near parity levels to cargo quotes a day ago.
Meanwhile, high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) was little changed though the risk of downside remained, with backwardation narrowing for the prompt trading months.
“The consecutive stronger (supply) arrivals since October have driven market fundamentals weaker resulting in intermonth spreads compression,” LSEG Oil Research said in an analysis report this week.
Refining margins were mostly rangebound from the previous day. Singapore’s VLSFO crack closed between premiums of $9.50 to $10 per barrel, while 380-cst HSFO cracks were at discounts of $5.50 to 6 per barrel.
INVENTORY DATA
– Fujairah heavy fuel inventories fell 25.0% to 6.42 million barrels (1.01 million tons) in the week to Dec. 9, FOIZ data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights showed.
