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Saudi Arabian refiner Saudi Aramco has sold a cargo of 80,000 tonnes of 380-centistoke (cst) fuel oil for delivery in early November, according to industry sources.

The parcel, which is scheduled for lifting from Jubail on November 2nd, is reported to have been bought by Sharjah-based fuel oil trader FAL Oil at a discount of $6-$7 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The amount paid was lower than the discount of $2-$3 per tonne that Vitol paid for an earlier cargo loading on October 30-31.

Two previous October cargoes were purchased by Vitol and Bakri at $2.50 per tonne below Singapore spot quotes, FOB.

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

In addition, peak summer demand for power generation in the Middle East has eased in recent weeks.

The combination of both factors has lead to the highest level of October fuel oil cargoes from Saudi Aramco's refineries at Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Jubail in five years.