Asia’s spot market for high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) recovered slightly on Thursday, while onshore residual inventories in Singapore eased but remained high, data showed.
The cash differential for 380-cst HSFO was pegged at a narrower discount day-on-day, with some bids firming into the later dates of November.
Demand from China and India for Russian HSFO remained uncertain for the short to medium term, following the latest slew of sanctions targeted at Russian oil barrels.
For now, Singapore market recovery remains capped by high inventories. Onshore stockpiles for residual fuels dipped this week but held at levels above average.
As for sales tenders, India’s BPCL offered a cargo of HSFO for loading in November, via a tender that closes on Friday, based on market sources.
Meanwhile, cracks traded in mixed directions. November VLSFO crack (LFO05SGBRTCMc1) fell to a premium closer to $5 a barrel, while 380-cst HSFO crack (FO380BRTCKMc1) rose to a discount of about $3.85 a barrel, data compiled by LSEG showed.
INVENTORY DATA – Singapore residual fuel inventories (STKRS-SIN) fell to 23.03 million barrels (about 3.63 million metric tons) in the week to October 22, down 8.1% from the previous week, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
