SINGAPORE: Asia’s fuel oil margins fell on Tuesday, posting monthly losses on the last trading day of the month as the East of Suez market continued to receive ample supplies.

The front-month crack for 0.5% VLSFO was at a premium of $16.28 a barrel to Dubai quotes at Tuesday’s Asia close (0830 GMT), slipping more than 6% from last month.

Fuel oil supplies to East Asia totalled about 5 million tonnes in January, steady to higher from December, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed, with close to 3 million tonnes already expected to load for February as of Tuesday.

Steady tenders from Kuwait’s Al Zour have also weighed on market sentiment in Asia, trade sources said.

Meanwhile, high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) cracks also recorded monthly declines. The front-month 180-cst HSFO crack fell to a discount of 18.46 a barrel on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell as the prospect of further interest rate increases and ample Russian crude flows outweighed demand recovery expectations from China.

Indonesian state energy company Pertamina is looking into developing a fuel product by mixing gasoline, methanol and ethanol, its chief executive officer Nicke Widyawati said in a parliamentary hearing.

Pakistan could face a crunch in fuel supplies in February as banks have stopped financing and facilitating payments for imports due to depleting foreign exchange reserves, traders and industry sources said.

Reliance Industries has stopped selling petroleum coke within India and boosted imports of the product to turn it into synthetic gas to power its refineries, according to two sources familiar with the matter and trade data.