- But Asia's 380-centistoke (cst) fuel oil's cash differential to Singapore quotes rose to a 25-cent premium on Thursday, the highest level in about two weeks due to support from crude.

- "Fuel oil (outright) prices essentially follow that of crude. Crude is strong," said a Singapore-based trader.

- Prompt inter-month price spreads for Middle East crude benchmark Dubai, for instance, had flipped into backwardation on Thursday, buoyed by robust demand for spot crude in Asia.

TENDERS

- Indian Oil Corp (IOC) was looking to buy 8,000 tonnes of 180-cst fuel oil for Sept. 13-16 arrival at Mangalore through a tender closing on Aug. 17.

- Counterpart Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) was looking to sell 25,000-30,000 tonnes of 380-cst fuel oil for Aug. 28-30 loading from Mumbai through a tender closing on Aug 10.

- Indonesia's Pertamina was looking to sell 200,000 barrels of 180-cst fuel oil for Sept. 1-2 loading from Cilacap through a tender which will stay valid until Aug. 15.

- Pertamina had also offered 80,000 barrels of Vacuum Residue for Aug. 28-29 loading from Plaju through a tender which will stay valid until Aug. 14.

STOCKS

- Singapore's onshore fuel oil inventories edged up 2.3 percent or 521,000 barrels to a two-week high of 23.65 million barrels in the week to Aug. 9, official data showed.

- Fuel oil stocks held in Fujairah rose 6.4 percent or 694,000 barrels to a three-week high of 11.52 million barrels in the week to Aug. 7, data from oil pricing agency Platts showed.