SINGAPORE: Asia’s spot cash differentials were little changed on Thursday amid tepid trading, while landed fuel oil stocks at Singapore fell slightly week-on-week.

The cash differential for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) steadied at a premium of $9.09 a tonne to Singapore quotes on Thursday, after declining for six straight days.

Meanwhile, the 380-cst cash differential fell by 23 cents to a premium of $1.13 to Singapore quotes.

Front-month refining margins for fuel oil remained under downward pressure on Thursday despite lower crude oil prices in Asia trading hours. The 180-cst HSFO crack fell by $1.12 to a discount of $17.53 a barrel to Dubai quotes at the Asia close (0830 GMT), while the 0.5% VLSFO crack edged lower by 6 cents to a premium of $9.04 a barrel, holding at over two-year lows.

Singapore’s residual fuel oil stocks dipped 1% at 20.09 million barrels (3.16 million tonnes) in the week ended Dec. 14, sliding to a two-week low, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

The decline in weekly inventory levels came amid lower net fuel oil imports, which fell by 12% to 457,000 tonnes. Top net fuel oil import volumes into Singapore came from Malaysia at 235,000 tonnes, while the main destination for fuel oil net exports out of Singapore was China at 44,000 tonnes.

Oil prices dipped on Thursday as the dollar firmed, while the possibility of further increases to interest rates by global central banks also heightened demand concerns.

Global oil demand growth will slow next year but will still be at a robust 1.7% as China recovers from COVID-related economic doldrums, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

India is considering building several refineries instead of a single mega plant planned with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, due to challenges in acquiring land, three sources familiar with the matter said. Italian energy contractor Saipem has won two new contracts in Guyana and Egypt for an overall value of around $1.2 billion, it said in a statement on Thursday.