SINGAPORE: Asia’s front-month crack for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) dipped on Friday, but posted its steepest weekly jump in more than 1-1/2 years amid tight global supplies.

The front-month VLSFO crack was at $27.50 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with Thursday’s $29.39 per barrel, which was the highest since January 2020.

The crack for the marine fuel grade has surged 33% this week in its biggest weekly gain since June 2020, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Cash premiums for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO slipped to $16.88 a tonne to Singapore quotes on Friday, compared with $17.12 per tonne on Thursday.

The prompt-month VLSFO time spread narrowed its backwardated structure marginally on Friday to trade at $30.75 a tonne, compared with $31.25 a tonne in the previous session.

Meanwhile, Asia’s cash premiums for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) were at $3.34 per tonne to Singapore quotes on Friday, the highest since October last year. They were at a premium of $3.25 per tonne on Thursday.

The 380-cst HSFO barge crack for April traded at a discount of $16.02 a barrel to Brent on Friday, compared with minus $16.50 a barrel on Thursday.

Fuel oil stocks held independently in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub climbed 6.9% to 1.1 million tonnes in the week to March 3, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

The data showed ARA gasoil inventories rose 4.9% to 1.7 million tonnes. One VLSFO trade was reported, no high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) deals.

Oil rose above $111 a barrel on Friday in a volatile session as fears over disruption to Russian oil exports in the face of Western sanctions offset the prospect of more Iranian supplies in the event of a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Indian refiner Nayara Energy, part-owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft, could find it harder to raise funds for expansion as a result of Western sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.