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Saudi Arabian refiner Saudi Aramco has sold an 80,000-tonne cargo of cracked A962 380-cst fuel oil for loading from the Red Sea port of Rabigh, according to industry sources.

The parcel, which is scheduled for lifting on September 17-19, is reported to have been sold to Trafigura at a much higher premium than an earlier deal, thus reflecting the strong prevailing market sentiment. .

Trafigura is understood to have paid $4-$5 per tonne above Singapore spot quotes, on a free on board (FOB) basis, higher than the premium of $2 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes, FOB, that Bakri paid for a similar parcel loading on Sepember 14-15..

Aramco has been offering unusually high volumes of A962 cracked fuel oil over the last two weeks after its fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at the Rabigh refinery experienced an outage. As a large percentage of the fuel oil has not been cracking in the FCC, this has led to higher exports of A962.

In total, three cargoes scheduled to load on September 14-15, 17-19, and 24-25 have aready been reported to have been sold. The parcel loading on Sept. 24-25 was sold to an undisclosed party at an unknown price. .

Towards the end of last month Saudi Aramco sold a similar-sized cargo of 380-cst fuel oil for lifting from Jubail in September. It was reported to have been sold to Vitol at a premium of $1-$2 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis..

The deal price was higher than a discount of approximately $4 per tonne Vitol paid for an 80,000-tonne cargo of 380-cst loading on August 21st..

Previously, Singapore Petroleum Corp paid a premium of $3-4 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes, FOB, for an 80,000-tonne A962 cargo from Saudi Aramco scheduled for loading from Rabigh on August 9th.