Asia’s very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) market gained on Wednesday after inventories at the Fujairah hub declined.
The 0.5% VLSFO cash differential (MFO05-SIN-DIF) rose to a premium of $17.24 a tonne from $17 a day earlier.
In physical markets, energy trader Sinopec bought 20,000 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), while there were no deals for VLSFO, market participants said.
The cash differential for 180-cst HSFO (FO180-SIN-DIF) rose by $1.29 to a discount of $3.63 a tonne to Singapore quotes on Wednesday.
INVENTORIES
Fuel oil stocks at the Fujairah commercial hub declined for a fourth straight week to 8.158 million barrels in the week to Feb. 13, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.
NEWS
More Indian firms are attracted to buying Russian naphtha as low-cost feedstock for their refineries and petrochemical plants after price caps imposed by Western nations, six refining sources said.
China’s top refiners PetroChina and Sinopec are resuming purchases of discounted Russian crude after a brief pause in late 2022, just before the European Union embargo on Russian oil started, industry sources said.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
