Cash discounts on Singapore’s 380-cst fuel oil slipped to a near three-week low on Monday despite supplier efforts to clear inventories of the fuel to make room for fresh supplies, traders said.

Sellers of physical cargoes continued to outnumber buyers in an indication of ample prompt supplies of the industrial fuel amid steady demand.

WINDOW TRADES

– Seven 380-cst fuel oil cargoes traded in the Platts window on Monday totaling 140,000 tonnes, with five trades occurring at the front of the window.

– Suppliers were seen as eager to offload cargoes since all but one of the window trades were sellers hitting the bids.

– PetroChina was the lead buyer with five cargoes, followed by Mercuria with two.

– Gunvor, Koch and Total each sold two cargoes while Shell supplied one.

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TENDERS

– Taiwan’s Formosa sold to Shell 40,000 tonnes of 380-cst fuel oil with sulphur content of 4 percent max for delivery on April 5-7 from the port of Mailiao at a discount of about $15 a tonne to 180-cst Singapore quotes on FOB basis.

– India’s Reliance Industries was offering 40,000 tonnes of carbon black feedstock with a maximum sulphur content of 1.2 pct for delivery over April 22-23 at Sikka.

The tender closes on Tuesday and is valid until Wednesday.

– Indonesia’s Pertamina offered four cargoes of vacuum residue totalling 80,000 barrels each with sulphur content of 0.35 percent max for delivery on April 9-10, 14-15, 24-25 and 29-30 from the port of Plaju.

The tender closes Wednesday and is valid until Friday.

– India’s IOC offered 35,000 tonnes of 380-cst fuel oil with a maximum 4.5 pct Sulphur content from the port of Chennai for April 10-12. The tender closed on Friday and was valid until March 27.

RELATED NEWS

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– State-run Taiwanese refiner CPC Corp said on Monday it plans to start trial runs at new refining units located in the south of the country in May, delayed from earlier this year.