SINGAPORE, May 21 (Reuters) - Asia fuel oil cash remained weak on Tuesday,
although traders anticipated supplies inside the second-half of June to tighten
due to thin Western arbitrage arrivals to the region.
Asia cash premiums for the 380-centistoke (cst) benchmark for the marine
fuels market were pegged at 25 cents a tonne, up 16 cents from the previous
session, while 180-cst was steady at 36 cents a tonne.
"If you look at the first-half of the month, the market is well supplied, but
as we have now moved out towards the second-half of the month, we see thin
arbitrage flows into Asia," a trader said.
"This is going to possibly give a lift to cash premiums, especially once the
trading cycle rolls into July."
According to trader estimates arbitrage flows from the West moving into Asia
were pegged at around 3.5 million tonnes for June, with the bulk of the arrivals
set to land in the region inside the first half of June.
An estimated 300,000-500,000 tonnes of fuel oil will arrive in the second
half of June, traders said.
"If we see similar flows for July, then the market is going to be pretty
edgy, but as of yet we don't really now, so traders are just preparing for worst
case scenario," a trader said.
"We've got oil now, today, but looking out that picture starts looking a
little bullish for fuel oil."
* Deals: No trades
FUEL OIL
CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev
Close
Cargo - 180cst 611.39 1.14 0.19 610.25
Diff - 180cst 0.25 0.16 177.78 0.09
Cargo - 380cst 602.41 0.10 0.02 602.31
Diff - 380cst 0.36 -0.02 -5.26 0.38
Bunker 607.50 0.00 0.00 607.50
(Ex-wharf)-
380cst
Bunker (Ex-wharf) 5.09 -0.10 -1.93 5.19
Premium
SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev
(0830 GMT) Close
Brent M1 104.39 0.04 0.04 104.35
180cst M1 611.00 1.00 0.16 610.00
180cst M1/M2 1.38 0.00 0.00 1.38
180cst M2 609.63 1.00 0.16 608.63
Visco M1 9.00 0.87 10.70 8.13
Visco M2 8.25 1.00 13.79 7.25
380cst M1 602.00 0.12 0.02 601.88
380cst M1/M2 0.63 0.13 26.00 0.50
380cst M2 601.38 0.00 0.00 601.38
Cracks 180-Dubai -7.36 -0.05 0.68 -7.31
M1
Cracks 180-Dubai -7.12 -0.05 0.71 -7.07
M2
East-West M1 28.25 0.50 1.80 27.75
East-West M2 29.00 0.25 0.87 28.75
Barges M1 582.75 0.50 0.09 582.25
Barges M1/M2 2.13 -0.25 -10.50 2.38
Barges M2 580.63 0.75 0.13 579.88
Crack -15.06 0.08 -0.53 -15.14
Barges-Brent M1
Crack -15.15 0.02 -0.13 -15.17
Barges-Brent M2
(Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu; Editing by William Hardy)
