SINGAPORE: Asia’s spot fuel oil market was steady to softer on Wednesday on consistent supply arrivals, while activity of Middle Eastern sellers gathered pace, with Kuwait and Iraq offering cargoes via tenders recently.

Kuwait has issued a tender offering three 100,000-tonne cargoes of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) from its Al Zour refinery, ramping up volumes for January compared with previous months, industry sources said. The first cargo for this tender is scheduled to load between Jan. 18 to 19, while loading dates for the second and third cargoes are to be scheduled later. The tender closes on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s SOMO also recently sold fuel oil for January-loading from Khor Al Zubair (STS) port, industry sources said.

The first cargo is scheduled to load between Jan. 8 to 10, while the second cargo is scheduled to load between Jan. 10 to 12. Gunvor bought the first cargo and Vitol bought the second cargo, sources added.