Fri 9 Mar 2018, 09:32 GMT

Oil and fuel oil hedging market update


By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services.



Commentary

Brent closed down $0.73 last night to $63.61, WTI closed at $60.12, down $1.03. On Tuesday I closed my commentary with "what a strange world we live in..." Low and behold! Kim Jong-Un is getting on a plane to go and meet Trump. This is probably the most important diplomatic meeting for quite some time. I don't know what significance it will have on the oil market - not much from a fundamental point of view, but all the spec boys will, I'm sure, use it as some kind of geopolitical excuse to take a position. Since this time last week Brent is down 0.003%. That's it. I'd be interested to see how volatility charts look - not anything to write home about I imagine. WTI is getting ever closer to that psychological $60 number, however, so I imagine we will see some resistance around these kind of numbers.

Fuel Oil Market (March 8)

The front crack opened at -10.45, strengthening to -10.35, before weakening to -10.55, closing at -10.40. The Cal 19 was valued at -14.80.

Cash differentials of Asia's 380 cSt high sulphur fuel oil extended gains for a fourth straight session on Thursday, lifted slightly higher by buying interest for physical cargoes of the fuel.

Singapore weekly onshore fuel oil inventories slipped 2 percent, or 499,000 barrels (74,000 tonnes), to a two-week low of 22.031 million barrels (about 3.29 million tonnes) in the week ended March 7, data from IE Singapore showed on Thursday.

The lower Singapore fuel oil stocks came amid a 76 percent drop in net imports of the fuel into the city-state from the week before to a seven-week low of 279,000 tonnes, the data showed.

Economic Data and Events

* 1:30pm: U.S. change in non-farm payrolls Feb., est. 205k, prior 200k

* 1:30pm: U.S. unemployment rate Feb., est. 4.0%, prior 4.1%

* 6pm: Baker Hughes rig count

* 6pm: ICE weekly commitments of traders report for Brent, gasoil

* 8:30pm: CFTC weekly commitments of traders report on various U.S. futures and options contracts

Singapore 380 cSt

Apr18 - 349.50 / 351.50

May18 - 349.00 / 351.00

Jun18 - 348.25 / 350.25

Jul18 - 347.25 / 349.25

Aug18 - 345.75 / 347.75

Sep 18 - 344.25 / 346.25

Q2-18 - 349.00 / 351.00

Q3-18 - 345.50 / 347.50

Q4-18 - 339.50 / 342.00

Q1-19 - 331.25 / 333.75

CAL19 - 305.25 / 309.25

CAL20 - 237.00 / 245.00

Singapore 180 cSt

Apr18 - 357.25 / 359.25

May18 - 356.50 / 358.50

Jun18 - 355.75 / 357.75

Jul18 - 354.75 / 356.75

Aug18 - 353.25 / 355.25

Sep 18 - 351.75 / 353.75

Q2-18 - 356.50 / 358.50

Q3-18 - 353.00 / 355.00

Q4-18 - 347.00 / 349.50

Q1-19 - 339.00 / 341.50

CAL19 - 318.50 / 322.50

CAL20 - 249.00 / 257.00

Rotterdam Barges

Apr18 337.00 / 339.00

May18 336.25 / 338.25

Jun18 335.25 / 337.25

Jul18 333.50 / 335.50

Aug18 331.50 / 333.50

Sep 18 - 329.00 / 331.00

Q2-18 336.00 / 338.00

Q3-18 331.00 / 333.00

Q4-18 321.75 / 324.25

Q1-19 314.25 / 316.75

CAL19 284.00 / 288.00

CAL20 224.00 / 232.00


Hydrogen production unit. Aurora Hydrogen secures $3m from Oldendorff Overseas Investments for maritime decarbonisation  

Investment advances microwave-driven methane pyrolysis technology for hydrogen production in the shipping sector.

Avenir Ascension vessel. Anew Climate and Avenir complete first joint bio-LNG bunkering in Europe  

Partnership delivers waste-based bio-LNG from Lithuania to Swedish ferry operator via KlaipÄ—da terminal.

Flex Commodities logo. Flex Commodities changes legal suffix from DMCC to FZCO under Dubai naming framework  

Administrative change aligns marine fuel trader with new UAE free zone company naming conventions.

Caspar Gooren, Titan. Titan Clean Fuels signs e-methane supply deal with TURN2X for 2028 delivery  

Bunker supplier to receive e-methane from Spanish production plant for distribution across European ports.

Hydrogen-fuelled engine 6UEC35LSGH. Japan consortium achieves hydrogen co-firing in main engine for large commercial vessel  

Engine reaches over 95% hydrogen co-firing ratio, with installation planned for 2027.

BTB bunker truck. Belgian Trading & Bunkering expands DMA 0.89 truck deliveries in ARA region  

BTB extends marine fuel offerings with truck-based deliveries to meet maritime market demand.

Fuel pathway roundtable meeting participants. ABS convenes roundtable on offshore power barge for Great Lakes emissions reduction  

Meeting brought together ports, academia and industry to advance shore power solution under EPA programme.

Lego Ane Maersk video screenshot. Maersk marks 50-year Lego partnership with dual-fuel vessel model  

Shipping company displays an exhibition of Lego sets spanning five decades at Copenhagen headquarters.

Guo Yun Hai vessel. Cosco Shipping takes delivery of 80,000-dwt methanol-ready grain carrier  

Guo Yun Hai features box-shaped cargo hold and methanol-ready design with energy-saving devices.

CMA CGM Innovation ship-to-ship transfer. Algeciras reports record LNG bunkering volumes, claims European top-three position  

Spanish port says it supplied 333,833 cbm of LNG across 78 ship-to-ship operations in 2025.