The price differential of the front-month 180-cst fuel oil crack narrowed its discount to Dubai crude to near parity on Thursday in spite of sharp gains in crude oil prices this week. The February 180-cst fuel oil crack to Dubai crude was at minus 3 cents a barrel on Thursday, up from minus 20 cents a barrel in the previous session, according to Refinitiv data in Eikon.
By contrast, however, the more actively traded 380-cst barge crack to Brent crude for February slipped to minus $6.07 a barrel on Thursday, down from minus $5.32 a barrel on Wednesday, Refinitiv data showed. Oil prices fell by more than 1 percent on Thursday on swelling US supply and amid caution after talks between the United States and China finished without any concrete details on a resolution to their trade disputes.
Oil benchmarks Brent and WTI rose by around 5 percent on the previous day as financial global markets surged on hope that Washington and Beijing may soon be able to end their trade dispute, soothing fears of an all-out trade war between the two biggest economies and the risk of damage to global growth.