SINGAPORE: Asia’s cash premiums for 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) dipped on Wednesday, weighed down by weaker buying interests in the physical market.

Cash premiums for Asia’s 0.5% VLSFO were at $15.02 a tonne to Singapore quotes, down 6 cents from a day earlier.

The front-month VLSFO crack eased to $19.29 per barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, compared with $19.56 a barrel on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the 380-cst HSFO barge crack for January traded at a discount of $13 a barrel to Brent on Wednesday, while cash premiums for 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) dropped to $2.13 per tonne to Singapore quotes.

Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) inventories for heavy distillates and residues dropped 29.9% from the previous week to 7.6 million barrels (1.1 million tonnes), data via S&P Global Platts showed.

Compared with year-ago levels, the weekly fuel oil inventories at FOIZ were about 19% lower.

Fuel oil stocks at FOIZ averaged 9.9 million barrels so far this year, compared with a weekly average of 10.3 million barrels in 2021, Reuters calculations showed.

Two 180-cst high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) deals, two 380-cst HSFO trades, no VLSFO trades were reported.

Middle East benchmark Dubai crude soared to a record this week while spot premiums for April-loading Russian oil jumped to their highest in more than two years in Asia, trade sources said on Wednesday as prices returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Oil prices recouped losses on Wednesday after slipping more than 3% in the previous session, as investors gauged the impact of easing Russia-Ukraine tension against a taut balance of tight global supplies and recovering fuel demand.