SINGAPORE: Asia’s cash premiums for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) rose to their highest level in more than a week on Monday, lifted by strong buying interests in the physical market.

Cash premiums for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO climbed to $14.93 a tonne to Singapore quotes, the highest since Feb. 3. They were at $13.97 per tonne on Friday.

The front-month VLSFO crack rose to $20.65 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with $19.27 a barrel on Friday.

Meanwhile, the 380-cst HSFO barge crack for March traded at a discount of $11.88 a barrel to Brent on Monday, compared with minus $12.54 per barrel at the end of last week.

Cash premiums for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) climbed to $2.31 per tonne to Singapore quotes, riding on stronger deals in the physical trade window. They were at $1.19 a tonne on Friday.

India’s Reliance Industries Ltd plans to produce blue hydrogen at a “competitive cost” of about $1.2-$1.5 per kg as it repurposes its $4-billion gasification assets, the conglomerate said in a presentation.

Reliance earlier had unveiled plans to reduce its dependence on its mainstay oil-to-chemicals business and invested in clean energy projects to burnish its green credentials.

Reliance will initially use syngas, produced by petcoke gasifies, to make blue hydrogen for its Jamnagar complex in western Gujarat state, until green hydrogen’s cost comes down, it said in the presentation released late on Friday.

Two 380-cst high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) deals, no VLSFO trades.

European banks are providing billions of dollars of funding to expand oil and gas production, a report on Monday showed, despite International Energy Agency guidance against new facilities in order to slow global warming.

Oil prices were steady on Monday after hitting their highest in more than seven years on fears that a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia could trigger US and European sanctions that would disrupt exports from one of the world’s top oil producers.