Spot premium for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) dipped on Tuesday as offers softened, while the broader market was broadly quiet due to a lack of fresh triggers.

The Singapore cash premium dipped closer to $6 a metric ton, while backwardation traded at lower levels day-on-day. Cracks for the product continued to hover at premiums of about $11 a barrel, LSEG data showed.

Meanwhile, high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) recovered slightly, though the spot market still held in discounts.

A few trades emerged for HSFO, while the contango narrowed day-on-day between the prompt months. HSFO cracks were stable near discounts of $2 a barrel.

In tenders, India’s HPCL offered three cargoes of HSFO for loading in August from Vizag, based on industry sources.

REFINERY UPDATES

– BP’s 440,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, on Monday reported flaring due to operational conditions, the company said.

OTHER NEWS

– Oil prices retreated on Tuesday, having climbed almost 2% in the previous session, as investors assessed the latest developments on U.S. tariffs and a higher than expected increase to OPEC+ output for August.

– The Trump administration on Monday wound down a license allowing shipments of liquefied petroleum gas to Venezuela’s state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

– India’s southern state of Kerala has sued Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and sought $1.1 billion in compensation after one of its container vessels sank and leaked fuel into the Arabian Sea in May.

– At least two crew members were wounded and two were missing following an attack by Houthi militants on a Greek-managed cargo ship off Yemen on Monday, hours after the Iran-aligned group said an earlier assault had sunk another bulk carrier in the Red Sea.

WINDOW TRADES

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

Source: Reuters