Asia Fuel Oil-Traders on Sidelines Awaiting Price Drop

Asian fuel oil traders sat on the sidelines on Tuesday as a fall in crude prices made them wary of taking positions in case prices moved lower.

Fuel oil prices have fallen by $11-12 per tonne since Friday's close, continuing a volatile period that saw fuel oil prices gain by more than 5 percent at the start of last week. See-sawing fuel oil prices have unnerved traders who see no clear direction in the market. Oil prices have lost more than 4 percent since Sept. 8, partly on renewed concern about global oversupply following an increase in U.S. drilling activity.

"All of us are waiting for prices to come down," a Singapore-based fuel oil trader told Reuters on Tuesday. There were no trades in the Platt's window in Singapore even though bids and offers were evenly matched at around 16-17. "People are sitting on their hands. They don't want to conclude any deals in case they make the wrong call," a second Singapore fuel oil trader said.
 

September prices for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil slipped back into discount for the first time since Aug. 15, indicating a well-supplied market, Reuters assessments showed. But the September price for 180-cst high fuel was still at a premium compared with October's prices, the Reuters data showed.
 

That came as sales of marine fuels in Singapore fell 1.4 percent from a year ago in August, the first such decline in 16 months, as fewer ships came to the city-state for refueling, data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed. Singapore's sales of marine fuel slipped to 4.23 million tonnes in August, from 4.29 million tonnes in August 2015, after the number of ships arriving to refuel fell 3 percent in August to 3,561 vessels compared with a year ago. 

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By Keith Wallis