Asia Fuel Oil-380-cst time spread falls but near-term outlook remains firm

SINGAPORE: Asia's front-month time spread fell to its lowest in two weeks on Tuesday, but sentiment remained bullish on expectations of relatively tighter arrivals in the near term, trade sources said.

Western fuel oil flows into East Asia for October are expected to come in below 3 million tonnes for the first time since last July, with only 2.6 to 2.7 million tonnes assessed so far in September as of last week, assessments by Thomson Reuters Oil Research showed on Tuesday.

WINDOW TRADES

- Three cargo trades were reported in the Platts window, totalling 60,000 tonnes of 380-cst fuel oil.

- Mercuria sold all the three 20,000-tonne cargoes; two to Hin Leong at $328 per tonne and one to BP at $327.75 per tonne.

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TENDERS

- Kuwait's KPC is offering up to 80,000 tonnes of 380-cst high-sulphur fuel oil for Oct. 20-21 loading in an offer that closes on Oct.4 with same-day validity.

- The product specifications were not immediately clear, but industry sources said they were largely similar to those exported in the last two tenders, which were a blend of mostly straight-run fuel oil and some cracked fuel oil.

- This is the fourth export of fuel oil from Kuwait since KPC decommissioned the Shuaibah refinery in April, totalling 320,000 tonnes.

- Kuwait's fuel oil exports have recently picked up due to lower domestic demand for the fuel which is used for power generation.

- Taiwan's CPC is seeking up to two 40,000-tonne cargoes for import during Nov. 1-30 at Keelung, Taichung or Kaohsiung in a tender that closes on Oct. 4 and is valid until Oct. 6, sources said.

- CPC requires that one of the cargoes has a maximum sulphur content of 0.3 percent, while the other has a 0.5 percent maximum sulphur content.

- India's Essar has sold to an unknown buyer up to 40,000 tonnes of vacuum gasoil for Oct. 27-30 loading from Vadinar at an unknown price level, industry sources said.

BUNKER MOC

S&P Global Platts has added Aegean Marine Petroleum SA to its Asia Market On Close (MOC) assessment process for Singapore physical bunkers, the company said in a subscriber note seen on Tuesday.