SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - Asia's fuel oil timespreads strengthened
on Wednesday, buoyed by rising concerns over an anticipated supply shortage in
May, due to a shortage of high grade blending materials, traders said.
The front-month timespread settled at $2.38 a tonne, widening by $1 from the
previous session, reflecting supply issues seen emerging in over the next few
weeks.
"We've got high volumes of fuel oil arriving in Asia, but they aren't ready
to sell, and we've got a shortage of blending components to cut blend this on
spec oil," a trader said.
"Demand hasn't really changed up or down, so we are fairly steady, if it
stays this way we could have problems in May, when we will see barrels from the
West into Asia start building up."
Western fuel oil supply flows into Asia for May is expected to be around 4.5
to 5 million tonnes, traders said, broadly steady to arrivals expected for
April.
Shipowner demand was pegged at around 15,000 tonnes, down from the previous
session by about 5,000 tonnes due to the higher flat price, traders said.
The market was generally quiet with no trades done as of the close of the
Asian market.
* TENDERS:
- Iran exported nearly 18 million barrels of fuel oil in the first quarter,
or around 200,000 barrels per day, an increase of nearly 12.5 percent from the
previous quarter, according to traders and data from Thomson Reuters Oil
Analytics.
* CASH DEALS: No reported trades
FUEL OIL
CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev Close
Cargo - 180cst 625.96 2.06 0.33 623.90
Diff - 180cst 2.00 -0.40 -16.67 2.40
Cargo - 380cst 623.39 1.61 0.26 621.78
Diff - 380cst 3.92 -0.61 -13.47 4.53
Bunker 625.50 2.00 0.32 623.50
(Ex-wharf)-
380cst
Bunker (Ex-wharf) 2.11 0.39 22.67 1.72
Premium
SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev Close
(0830 GMT)
Brent M1 106.19 1.07 1.02 105.12
180cst M1 625.13 3.13 0.50 622.00
180cst M1/M2 2.38 1.00 72.46 1.38
180cst M2 622.75 2.12 0.34 620.63
Visco M1 4.00 0.25 6.67 3.75
Visco M2 5.00 -0.38 -7.06 5.38
380cst M1 621.13 2.88 0.47 618.25
380cst M1/M2 3.38 0.38 12.67 3.00
380cst M2 617.75 2.50 0.41 615.25
Cracks 180-Dubai -7.25 -0.36 5.22 -6.89
M1
Cracks 180-Dubai -6.89 -0.35 5.35 -6.54
M2
East-West M1 31.50 0.50 1.61 31.00
East-West M2 28.75 0.00 0.00 28.75
Barges M1 593.63 2.63 0.45 591.00
Barges M1/M2 -0.38 0.50 -56.82 -0.88
Barges M2 594.00 2.12 0.36 591.88
Crack -14.81 -0.75 5.33 -14.06
Barges-Brent M1
Crack -15.02 -0.56 3.87 -14.46
Barges-Brent M2
(Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu; editing by William Hardy)
