Asia’s spot market for high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) held in steep discounts on Thursday, while Iraq’s SOMO offered term supplies for the first half of 2026.

Singapore cash differentials for 180-cst HSFO fell into wider discounts as spot offers dropped, while 380-cst HSFO held in rangebound discounts from the previous day.

Iraq’s SOMO has offered more than 6 million metric tons of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) between January and June 2026 in three tenders of varying volumes, according to market sources and documents seen by Reuters.

The tenders are expected to add more volumes to the global fuel oil supply balance, while capping Asia price differentials which have already been hovering in discounts since early October.

Separately, Vietnam’s Nghi Son offered more fuel oil for spot loading in November.

Onshore inventories of residual fuel remained above average in Singapore, latest data showed.

Discounts for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) also widened day-on-day, with spot offers holding in discounts.

Fuel oil cracks were slightly higher day-on-day in volatile trading. The VLSFO crack for December (LFO05SGBRTCMc1) closed above a premium of $7 a barrel, while 380-cst HSFO crack (FO380BRTCKMc1) closed at a discount near $5 a barrel, showed data compiled by LSEG.

INVENTORY DATA
– Singapore residual fuel inventories (STKRS-SIN) fell 1.0% to 24.48 million barrels (about 3.86 million metric tons) in the week to November 5, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

OTHER NEWS
– Oil prices regained a little ground on Thursday, buoyed by easing concerns over a potential supply glut as sanctions on Russian companies begin to bite.
– Saudi Arabia has sharply reduced the prices of its crude for Asian buyers in December, responding to a well-supplied market as OPEC+ producers ramp up production.
– India’s Reliance is attempting to re-sell some Middle Eastern crude it snapped up last month to replace Russian oil because of Western sanctions, trade sources said.
– Russia’s oil and gas revenue declined by almost 27% in October to 888.6 billion roubles ($10.93 billion) from the same month a year earlier, finance ministry data showed on Thursday, amid weak oil prices and a strengthening rouble.

WINDOW TRADES
– 180-cst HSFO: No trade
– 380-cst HSFO: Four trades
– 0.5% VLSFO: No trade
Source: Reuters