Image credit: Freight Investor Services (FIS)

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Commentary

Brent crude futures contract, for December, LCOZ8 was up 9 cents, or 0.11 percent, at $81.47 per barrel at 0637 GMT. The contract will expire later on Friday and is at $81.78 a barrel. The contract rose to four-year high of $82.55 on Tuesday. Brent is set to rise 5.6 percent in September, on track for the biggest monthly gain since April. WTI futures were up 15 cents, or 0.21 percent, at $72.27 per barrel. It is set to gain rose 3.5 percent this month, the biggest increase since June.

"The market has been focusing on trading headlines on the Iran sanctions for a whole week. But views on how much OPEC and Russia can make up for the losses vary," said analysts. The sanctions on Iran, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) third-largest producer, start on Nov. 4, with Washington asking buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero to force Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement and to curb its influence in the Middle East. Concerns around the sanctions also led to a widening difference between WTI and Brent prices as it created positive conditions for U.S. oil exports. The spread between the two futures contracts rose to $9.51 per barrel, as Brent hovers around its biggest premium to WTI in three months.

Fuel Oil Market (Sep 27)

The crack discount was trading at -11.30 with the narrowest level of -11.10 for this week with the cal 19 trading at -15.25.

Inventories: Singapore's onshore fuel oil inventories surged 2.328 million barrels, or about 347,000 tonnes, to 17.616 million barrels, or 2.629 million tonnes, Singapore fuel oil exports totalled just 55,000 tonnes in the week to Sept. 26, the lowest since June 2011.

Low export volumes helped lift net fuel oil imports into Singapore to a two-week high of 966,000 tonnes, up 67 percent from the week before.

Window Trades: Five cargo trades were reported in the Singapore trading window, totalling 100,000 tonnes of 380 cSt high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO).

Gunvor sold all five cargoes to Hin Leong, with two cargoes for Oct. 12-16 loading at a $5.90 a tonne premium to the average of October Singapore quotes and three cargoes for Oct. 17-21 loading at a $5 per tonne premium to the average of October Singapore quotes.

Economic data/events (Times are UK)

* 2:45pm: Chicago Purchasing Manager, Sept.

* 3pm: University of Michigan Sentiment, Sept. (final)

* 6pm: Baker Hughes rig count

* 6:30pm: 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

* Mexico Oil Congress, Acapulco, final day

* Primorsk diesel loading program for October

* EIA Monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production

Singapore 380 cSt

Oct18 - 473.25 / 475.25

Nov18 - 467.50 / 469.50

Dec18 - 462.25 / 464.25

Jan19 - 457.25 / 459.25

Feb19 - 452.75 / 454.75

Mar19 - 448.50 / 450.50

Q4-18 - 467.50 / 469.50

Q1-19 - 453.25 / 455.25

Q2-19 - 439.50 / 442.00

Q3-19 - 421.50 / 424.00

CAL19 - 423.50 / 426.50

CAL20 - 348.50 / 354.50

Singapore 180 cSt

Oct18 - 481.00 / 483.00

Nov18 - 475.50 / 477.50

Dec18 - 471.00 / 473.00

Jan19 - 467.25 / 469.25

Feb19 - 463.00 / 465.00

Mar19 - 459.00 / 461.00

Q4-18 - 476.00 / 478.00

Q1-19 - 464.00 / 466.00

Q2-19 - 451.25 / 453.75

Q3-19 - 437.75 / 440.25

CAL19 - 438.00 / 441.00

CAL20 - 371.50 / 377.50

Rotterdam 3.5%

Oct18 - 447.00 / 449.00

Nov18 - 442.75 / 444.75

Dec18 - 438.50 / 440.50

Jan19 - 435.25 / 437.25

Feb19 - 432.25 / 434.25

Mar19 - 429.00 / 431.00

Q4-18 - 442.75 / 444.75

Q1-19 - 432.25 / 434.25

Q2-19 - 421.00 / 423.50

Q3-19 - 399.00 / 401.50

CAL19 - 401.25 / 404.25

CAL20 - 334.25 / 340.25