SINGAPORE: Spot fuel oil cash differentials in Asia steadied on Monday, following a volatile week that saw high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) rallying and very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) weakening sharply.

The 180-cst HSFO cash differential dipped 26 cents to $8.74 a tonne to Singapore quotes, while 380-cst HSFO rose 16 cents to $9.00 a tonne on Monday.

Refining margins for HSFO retreated, after climbing to nearly a year’s high last week.

The front-month 380-cst HSFO crack fell to a discount of $14.83 a barrel at the Asia close (0830 GMT).

“We expect the strength in HSFO cracks to persist amid high feedstock demand from China.

That said, the upside will be capped by continued inflows of Russian barrels into East of Suez,” said consultancy company FGE in a note.

Meanwhile, the spot 0.5% VLSFO cash differential held in a thin premium to Singapore quotes on Monday, while the market’s front-month crack was at $8.83 a barrel.

Oil prices slipped on Monday after China set a lower-than-expected target for economic growth this year at around 5%, and as investors cautiously awaited US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony this week.

Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia raised prices for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia for a second month in April, Aramco said.

Guyana’s coming auction of offshore oil exploration blocks has lured at least 10 companies including Shell, Petrobras and Chevron, to consider the decade’s hottest oil region, people close to the matter said.

Philippine authorities believe they have found the location of a tanker that sank off a central province last week, the environment ministry said on Monday, amid a race to assess the extent of an oil spill and contain further environmental damage.