Asia’s fuel oil markets held steadily in discounts on Thursday, while onshore inventories at key storage hub Singapore continued to climb.
Onshore fuel oil stockpiles in Singapore rose for a third consecutive week, reaching their highest level in three months, latest data showed, as net imports grew from last week.
In the spot market, both high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) remained stuck at discounts to cargo quotes.
Slow demand from the bunkering sector also contributed to the inventory build-up, some market sources said. There was no year-end seasonal boost in refuelling demand this year, they added.
Cracks dipped slightly on Thursday from the previous day. The VLSFO crack (LFO05SGBRTCMc1) fell to a premium of about $3.60 a barrel, while 380-cst HSFO crack (FO380BRTCKMc1) closed at a discount near $8.30 a barrel, data compiled by LSEG showed.
INVENTORY DATA
– Singapore residual fuel inventories (STKRS-SIN) rose 2.0% week-on-week to 26.06 million barrels (about 4.10 million metric tons) in the week to December 10, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters
