Asia fuel oil markets were broadly steady on Thursday, with high supply inventories capping recovery in benchmarks.

Singapore’s very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) cash differential narrowed slightly, hovering near a discount of $3 a metric ton.

Meanwhile, high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) differentials were little changed from the previous session, though November/December timespread recovered into a thin backwardation versus a thin contango in the previous day.

Cracks were rangebound from the previous day, with November VLSFO crack (LFO05SGBRTCMc1) dipping to a premium of $6.40 a barrel, while 380-cst HSFO crack (FO380BRTCKMc1) edged up to a discount of $3.70 a barrel, data compiled by LSEG showed.

Onshore inventories in Singapore rebounded to a four-weeks high, breaching 25 million barrels in the week. Iraq and the United Arab Emirates were the top origins for inflows, while China was the main destination for outflows.

BUNKER DATA

– Sales of bunker fuel at the UAE’s Fujairah port eased in September month-on-month, led by a drop in volumes of low-sulphur fuel, though high-sulphur sales surged to the highest to-date this year, data from Fujairah Oil Industry Zone showed.

INVENTORY DATA

– Singapore residual fuel inventories (STKRS-SIN) rose to 25.06 million barrels (about 3.95 million metric tons) in the week to October 15, up 5.9% from the previous week, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

OTHER NEWS

– Oil prices rose on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged his country would stop buying oil from Russia, a move that could drain supply elsewhere.
– Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk has reached its maximum capacity to export, leaving traders struggling to reroute the crude oil it cannot refine domestically and that increased OPEC+ quotas allow it to produce, market sources said.
– Some Indian refiners are preparing to cut Russian oil imports, with expectations of a gradual reduction, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, with the U.S. pressuring New Delhi to stop buying Russian crude.
– Britain targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, and 44 shadow fleet tankers on Wednesday in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenues.

WINDOW TRADES

– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters