Singapore : Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) sold two 80,000-tonne cargoes of 0.2 per cent sulphur gas oil for September delivery to Indonesia's Pertamina, after the parcels were diverted from Pakistan as demand wilted during the country's devastating floods, traders said yesterday.

The cargoes were sold at a premium of $1.00 (Dh3.67)-$1.10 a barrel to Middle East spot quotes, down from $1.10-$1.50 a barrel done last week, traders said.

"Kuwait was desperately negotiating with Pertamina to supply two 80,000-tonne gas oil cargoes to Indonesia during the month of September and it seems they got it done," said one trader.

"The Pakistan situation has worsened, and has created a lot of distortion to the supply-demand balance for high-sulphur gas oil," he added.

Over the last two weeks, KPC sold two 0.2 per cent sulphur gas oil cargoes in the spot market after Pakistan State Oil (PSO) deferred deliveries of its August term parcels.

PSO takes delivery of at least two 0.5 per cent sulphur gas oil cargoes — measuring between 30,000 and 50,000 tonnes each — from KPC every month.

Traders said PSO had declared force majeure on taking delivery of at least two gas oil cargoes due to the floods.

KPC sold a spot gas oil cargo for August 23-24 loading to Glencore at a premium of $1.10 a barrel to Middle East spot quotes last week, after selling a similar parcel to Trafigura at a premium of $2.05 a barrel the previous week, traders said.

 

Singapore

Stockpile declines

Singapore stockpiles of residues, or fuel oil, fell to the lowest level in 10 weeks, data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed.

Onshore inventories of residues, a category that includes fuel oil, low-sulfur waxy residue and excludes bitumen, dropped 5.2 percent to 20.6 million barrels in the seven days ended August 25 from a week earlier, International Enterprise Singapore said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Supplies are at their lowest level since June 16.

Supplies of middle distillates, including gasoil and kerosene, rose 2.8 percent to 13.9 million barrels. Light distillates such as naphtha, reformate and gasoline fell 5 percent to 10.1 million barrels.

Refining losses from making 180-centistoke fuel oil were at $4.01 (Dh14.72) a barrel against Dubai crude, the smallest discount in a week, signaling improving demand in the region. The discount fell to as low as $6.54 a barrel this month on Aug. 8, data from brokers PVM Oil Associates showed.

The trade ministry surveys refiners, oil companies and storage terminals on a voluntary basis. The results may exclude some offshore storage capacity, International Enterprise said.

— Bloomberg