Spot differentials in the Asia fuel oil market were broadly stable on Friday amid thin activity and absent fresh drivers, while cracks also traded rangebound from the previous day.
Singapore’s 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) cash differential widened slightly to a premium near $1.40 a metric ton, while very low sulphur fuel oil’s (VLSFO) differential was little changed at a discount of $1.25 a ton.
Cracks were relatively flat day-on-day but logged weekly increases, data compiled by LSEG showed.
October crack for 380-cst HSFO closed at a discount near $3.80 a barrel on Friday, climbing more than 25% versus the previous week.
VLSFO crack inched slightly lower from the previous day to a premium near $6.75 a barrel, but compared about 1% higher than last week.
The availability of prompt supply continued to weigh on benchmarks, although recent drawdowns in Singapore onshore inventories helped to limit further price declines.
INVENTORY DATA
– ARA fuel oil inventories fell 2.2% to 0.96 million tons in the week to September 25, based on data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global.
OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices edged up on Friday, on track to rise at their steepest rate since early June as Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure prompted Moscow to restrict fuel exports and brought it close to cutting crude output.
– Russia will introduce a partial ban on diesel exports until the end of the year and extend an existing ban on gasoline exports, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying on Thursday, following a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries.
– Iraq will restart the export of oil from its Kurdish region to Turkey on Saturday after an interruption of more than two years, following what Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani called a historic agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government.
– U.S. energy major Chevron said it was expecting to take a hit of $200 million to $400 million in the third quarter related to the Hess deal.
WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters
