Asia’s very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) market retreated on Monday, while Kuwait’s Al Zour refinery issued a spot tender offering a cargo for loading in May.

The cargo will comprise 120,000 metric tons of VLSFO and is expected to load from May 2-3, trade sources said, with the tender closing on Monday.

The tender emerged against some earlier market expectations that VLSFO exports from Kuwait could taper off entirely in May, ahead of summer stockpiling.

Meanwhile, the Singapore cash differential for VLSFO eased to a premium of $2 a metric ton on Monday, with the product trading lower from last week.

Separately, a trade for 180-cst high sulphur fuel oil emerged on Monday, dampening its cash differential back into a discount.

CHINA DATA

China’s exports of marine fuel oil fell 32% in March from a year earlier to 1.32 million metric tons, latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

However, the March volume was 12% higher than the 1.17 million tons shipped out in February.

Stronger volumes emerged as bunker prices at key Chinese ports like Zhoushan and Shanghai were lower than prices at regional hub Singapore in March, which drew some demand, industry sources said.

Meanwhile, import volumes for March were at 1.98 million tons, down 19% from the same month last year.

OTHER NEWS

– Oil prices fell on Monday as the market focus switched to fundamentals, after Israel and Iran played down the risk of an escalation of hostilities following Israel’s apparently small strike on Iran.

– Plentiful supplies of some of the biggest crude grades are limiting the impact on benchmark oil futures prices of conflict in the Middle East, according to analysts and traders.

– Australia’s BHP Group is planning to receive its first ammonia-fuelled bulk carrier in 2026 as part of the company’s plans to cut shipping emissions, a senior executive said.

– Hong Kong-based shipping company Wah Kwong is finalising a deal later this month to double the number of liquefied natural gas carriers that it has ordered to four, as it eyes growing global trade in the superchilled fuel, its chairman said.

WINDOW TRADES

– 180-cst HSFO: One trade
– 380-cst HSFO: No trade
– 0.5% VLSFO: One trade

Source: Reuters reported by Jeslyn Lerh and edited by Mrigank Dhaniwala