- HIGHER FLOWS FROM WEST: The total fuel oil flows from west to Asia could reach the highest in four months in June at nearly 5 million tonnes, according to trade flows data on Thomson Reuters Eikon.

"It's been a struggle to see prices moving up even though there are problems in the Middle East," a Singapore-based fuel oil trader said. "Some traders who speculated on a rise in prices got a rude shock when it went down last week."

He added that volume in sales are healthy but this is not reflected in the prices.