Asia's fuel oil outright prices weakened on Thursday as the market continued to face ample supplies. Prices for the fixed-price swaps contracts fell between $2 and $3 a tonne in brisk trading activity, with over 140,000 tonnes transacted for the June 180-centistoke (cst) and 170,000 tonnes for the May 380-cst swap.
There was also a heavy volume of trade for the intermonth July/August spread, which closed 13 cents lower at $2.88 a tonne, only to falter further under the weight of 300,000 tonnes and trade at $2.40 by 1130 GMT.
Six spot cargoes were also sold during the physical trading window, with premiums for the prompt loading dates easing to $2.00 a tonne.
Singapore onshore fuel oil inventories climbed by 642,000 barrels to 19.871 million barrels for the week ended May 9 as Western inflows continued to pour in.
Imports from the West were about 787,000 tonnes, lifting the total for May volumes above 1.5 million tonnes, International Enterprise (IE) data showed.
Supplies are expected to remain heavy into June, with a new fixture by KMG booking the Ottoman Tenacity to move 130,000 tonnes from Kerch around May 20.
BP was also seen provisionally chartering the Ocean Voyager to move 80,000 tonnes from Shuiaba, Kuwait to Singapore around May 23, shipping reports showed.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) had also sold two other 80,000 tonnes of 380-cst cargoes, for May 16-17 and May 30-31 lifting, though buyer details were still not known.
Source: Reuters