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Formosa Petrochemical Corp. has sold 55,000 tonnes of fuel oil for loading in May, Reuters reports.

The Taiwanese refiner sold a 40,000-tonne parcel of high sulphur, high density fuel oil and a 15,00-tonne cargo of pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO) - a low-viscosity cutter which is needed to blend high-viscosity, high-density cargoes before they can be sold into the marine fuels market.

Both cargoes are said to have been purchased by Singapore-based trading firm Kuo Oil at a discount of approximately $27.00 and a premium of $100-$101.00 a tonne, respectively, to Singapore spot quotes on free-on-board (FOB) basis. They are scheduled for loading on May 15-17 from Formosa's Mailiao refinery.

Formosa previously sold 40,000-tonne HSFO and 15,000-tonne PFO cargoes for loading in April at a discount of $25.00-$30.00 and a premium of $120.00 a tonne, respectively, to Singapore spot quotes, FOB.

The fuel oil oil market has weakened in recent weeks following six-year high volumes of 4.4-4.5 million tonnes for the second half of March/first half of April period. Most of the most 3.4-3.5 million tonnes fixed so far for May are scheduled to arrive during the first-half May.

Stockpiles of residues, which includes fuel oil and low-sulphur waxy residue, fell from their highest level in seven months during the seven days up to Wednesday May 4th, according to government agency International Enterprise (IE) Singapore. Inventories dropped to 21.8 million barrels from 23.2 million barrels the previous week.