Aramco sells two December fuel oil cargoes

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

19 Nov 2010

Saudi Aramco sold two cargoes of December-loading fuel oil totalling up to 180,000 tonnes, traders said yesterday. The first parcel, of high 700 centistoke (cst) viscosity fuel oil, for December 5-7 loading from the joint-venture Samref refinery in Yanbu,

was sold to Vitol at undisclosed price levels on a free-on-board (fob) basis.
However, traders estimate the strike price for the high-viscosity parcel to be lower than the previous sale, done through Aramco's joint-venture partner ExxonMobil.
Glencore bought that cargo at a discount of around $20 (Dh73.40) a tonne to spot quotes, free-on-board.
The second lot, a low-density A961 180-cst cargo for December 5-7 lifting from its 550,000 barrel-per-day Ras Tanura facility, was sold to Total at a premium of $1-$2 a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, free-on-board.
Aramco last sold a similar A961 parcel, for November 10-14 loading, into the Middle East also at a slight premium of less than $1 a tonne to Singapore spot quotes, free-on-board.
Traders said the strike prices were within market expectations as high-water content cargoes stoked competition for the A961 cargo, while the lack of cutters in the market muted demand for the 700 cst parcel.
At least one million tonnes of fuel oil with high-water content from the Caribbean, mainly Venezuela and Mexico, are expected to land in East Asia in November-December, amid thin Western arbitrage arrivals for both months.
November volumes
November volumes are at a six-month low of 3.1-3.2 million tonnes, while about 3.0 million tonnes have been booked for December so far, revised downwards from an earlier estimate of 3.5-3.6 million tonnes as some bookings were failed.
Reflecting the stronger market, the product's Dec-ember/January timespread, which turned prompt on Tuesday, was valued at parity by midday.

Source: Reuters