Asia Fuel Oil-HSFO cash differentials gain; Fujairah stocks down

NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) - Asia's high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) cash differentials gained on Wednesday after eight straight sessions of decline, amid a rise in crude oil benchmarks but overall activity at the trading window continued to be thin.

Singapore's 380-cst HSFO cash premium traded at $15.11 a metric ton. The very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) cash differential continued to trade in discounts amid tepid trading activity.

Meanwhile, inventories at the Fujairah trading hub declined by about 5% to 10.440 million barrels in the week to March 24, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

Asian fuel oil arrivals have hit a five-month high of 7.39 million tons, up by 65% month-on-month, supported by elevated March/April high-sulphur inter-month spread of over $20 per ton, according assessments by LSEG Research.

OTHER NEWS

- Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as concerns about tighter global supply grew following the U.S. threat of tariffs on nations buying Venezuelan crude, along with a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories. O/R

- Any lifting of sanctions on Russian energy is likely to be slow and patchy, meaning a return of its oil and gas to markets beyond Asia would likely be modest in the short term, the bosses of the world's biggest trading houses said on Tuesday.

WINDOW TRADES O/AS

- 180-cst HSFO: No trade

- 380-cst HSFO: No trade

- 0.5% VLSFO: No trade

ASSESSMENTS