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By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services Ltd.

Brent closed up $0.68 last night to $48.42 and WTI closed at $46.08 up $0.59. What has the week brought us? Brent is up 0.006% on the week. Pathetic. Or is it? It does seem that much has been written and reported on the apparent woeful state of the oil market, but it hasn't really affected prices too much. If anything I think that the collapse to below $45 in July has probably helped the market find some kind of support. I say collapse, it was as slow a collapse as when I run downstairs, but to me at least the signs are there that we are slowly recovering. Nigeria have come out and said that once they get to a stable 1.8mn bpd of production they will cap their production. The problem is with the Nigerian bbls yielding mainly light ends and the world in need of the heavier part of the barrel, I doubt this will even happen as premiums continue to shrink for lighter sweet crude. To be frank, I think the one thing that could really put a sting in the tail at the moment is if freight rates were to go up. A VLCC today costs around 25k per day, it wasn't that long ago that we were at 40k per day for those big tubs so that is at least pacifying any pain for traders who are looking to store offshore. A spike in freight and the options for where to put all this oil is quickly going to dissipate.

Economic Data/Events: (UK times)

* 1:30pm: U.S. CPI m/m for June

* 1:30pm: U.S. retail sales advance m/m for June

* 2:15pm: U.S. industrial production m/m for June

* 3pm: U.S. University of Michigan sentiment for July, prelim.

* 6pm: Baker Hughes weekly U.S. oil, gas rig counts

* ~7pm: North Dakota releases monthly oil production data for May

* 8:30pm: CFTC weekly Commitments of Traders report on U.S. futures, options contracts

Singapore 380 cSt

Aug17 - 290.25 / 292.25

Sep17 - 289.50 / 291.50

Oct17 - 288.75 / 290.75

Nov17 - 288.25 / 290.25

Dec17 - 288.00 / 290.00

Jan18 - 287.50 / 289.50

Q4-17 - 288.25 / 290.25

Q1-18 - 287.25 / 289.25

Q2-18 - 288.25 / 290.75

Q3-18 - 289.75 / 292.75

CAL18 - 286.00 / 289.50

CAL19 - 286.50 / 292.00

CAL20 - 270.50 / 278.50

Singapore 180 cSt

Aug17 - 296.25 / 298.25

Sep17 - 295.50 / 297.50

Oct17 - 295.00 / 297.00

Nov17 - 294.75 / 296.75

Dec17 - 294.50 / 296.50

Jan18 - 294.00 / 296.00

Q4-17 - 294.75 / 296.75

Q1-18 - 294.25 / 296.25

Q2-18 - 295.50 / 298.00

Q3-18 - 297.75 / 300.75

CAL18 - 293.50 / 297.00

CAL19 - 295.50 / 301.00

CAL20 - 279.50 / 287.50

Rotterdam 380 cSt

Aug17 277.75 / 279.75

Sep17 275.75 / 277.75

Oct17 273.75 / 275.75

Nov17 272.00 / 274.00

Dec17 270.25 / 272.25

Jan18 271.75 / 273.75

Q4-17 272.00 / 274.00

Q1-18 273.25 / 275.25

Q2-18 275.75 / 278.25

Q3-18 277.50 / 280.50

CAL18 271.75 / 275.25

CAL19 269.25 / 274.75

CAL20 250.00 / 258.00

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Founded in 2002, Freight Investor Services is a specialist in dry bulk and commodity derivatives, including cargo freight, iron ore, fertilizer and bunker fuel. The company has offices in London, Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai.

For further details about fuel oil swaps or to discuss trading opportunities, please contact Andrew Cullen, Client Relations & Development Manager, on +44 207 090 1126, or email AndrewC@freightinvestor.com.