off-the-wire

Asia Fuel Oil-VLSFO cash premium retreats on selling interest

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Asia's cash premium for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) fell on Thursday, as selling interest resumed after a short-lived rebound. The spot 0.5% VLSFO premium fell to $2.50 a tonne, while the front-month crack closed lower at $7.77 a barrel at the Asia close (0830 GMT). VLSFO had rebounded slightly in previous trading sessions on market talk of less supplies from Kuwait's Al Zour refinery. The Al Zour refinery has been partially shut down due to technical issues, a spokesperson for Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) said this week. The company added in a tweet that efforts were underway to gradually restore operations within two weeks. But the imminent situation was not clear, trade sources said. The last Al Zour VLSFO offer tender was sighted in the market three weeks ago. The company typically issues one tender every one to two weeks.


SINGAPORE INVENTORIES Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore eased after striking more than a year's high last week, with net imports sliding for a third consecutive week, official data showed on Thursday. Onshore fuel oil stocks were at 23.52 million barrels (3.7 million tonnes) in the week to April 12, dipping 1% from the previous week, based on Enterprise Singapore. However, supplies are still high compared with the start of the year when weekly inventories were about 21 million barrels. OTHER NEWS - Oil prices were stable on Thursday as the market weighed the prospect of tight supply against possible recession in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer. - China's crude oil imports in March surged 22.5% from a year earlier, as refiners stepped up purchases from relatively low levels in 2022. - Oil products shipments from TotalEnergies' Donges and La Mede refineries were disrupted on Thursday, a company spokesperson said, with 20% of operational staff having joined strike action over the government's pension reforms. - The Biden administration plans to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve soon, and hopes to refill it at lower oil prices if it's advantageous to taxpayers during the rest of the year, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.


WINDOW TRADES - 180-cst HSFO: No trade - 380-cst HSFO: Two trades - 0.5% VLSFO: One trade


ASSESSMENTS
FUEL OIL
CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE CHANGE PREV CLOSE RIC Cargo - 0.5% VLSFO 601.84 6.09 595.75 Diff - 0.5% VLSFO 2.50 -0.62 3.12 Cargo - 180cst 483.17 6.17 477.00 Diff - 180cst 2.55 1.02 1.53 Cargo - 380cst 483.11 3.87 479.24 Diff - 380cst 5.55 -1.95 7.50 Bunker (Ex-wharf) Premium - 380cst 12.00 0.00 12.00
Bunker (Ex-wharf) Premium - 0.5% VLSFO 8.00 -0.50 8.50
For a list of derivatives prices, including margins, please double click the RICs below. Brent M1 180cst M1 180cst M1/M2 180cst M2 Visco M1 Visco M2 380cst M1 380cst M1/M2 380cst M2 Cracks 180-Dubai M1 Cracks 180-Dubai M2 East-West M1 East-West M2 Barges M1 Barges M1/M2 Barges M2 Crack Barges-Brent M1 Crack Barges-Brent M2 (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Varun H K)

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