Singapore Daily Oil Price Report

21st Prices

2005-11-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

Exwharf 380cst: $289.000
Exwharf 180cst: $301.000
Mops 380cst: $281.970
Mops 180cst: $291.500
Bunkerwire 380cst: $291.000
Bunkerwire 180cst: $303.000
Bunkerwire Diesel: $482.500
Bunkerwire MGO: $487.500

Compared on the 18th Nov, Fuel Price rose US$4/-.Gasoil dropped US$7.50 again.

Prices steady on tight supply; Crude Rebound

2005-11-20T19:22:00.000-08:00

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asia's bunker fuel prices were largely unchanged Friday due to tight supply in some markets and suppliers' reluctance to lower prices.

Also, crude futures rebounded during Asian trading hours despite sharp losses overnight.

At 1045 GMT, light sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $57.36 a barrel in electronic Access trade, or 21 cents higher than Thursday's floor close.

Supply is getting tight in Japan as some local refineries there have sold out their October stocks, traders said.

In the regional bellwether Singapore market, suppliers' reluctance to sell underpinned prices, despite poor demand Friday and more cargoes expected to arrive in Singapore next week, traders said.

The price of 380 centistoke bunker fuel was quoted at $288-$291 a metric ton in Singapore, little changed from Thursday.

18th Prices

2005-11-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

Exwharf 380cst: $285.000
Exwharf 180cst: $297.000
Mops 380cst: $275.680
Mops 180cst: $287.510
Bunkerwire 380cst: $287.000
Bunkerwire 180cst: $299.000
Bunkerwire Diesel: $490.000
Bunkerwire MGO: $495.000

Compared to yesterday 17th Nov, Fuel Price dropped US$4/-.Gasoil dropped US$7.50.

BP HIT VITOL!

2005-11-18T02:04:00.000-08:00

Major BP bought from VITOL 180 cst 20kt loading on DEC 06-10 at Mops plus Flat.

17th Prices

2005-11-17T18:12:00.001-08:00

Exwharf 380cst: $289.000
Exwharf 180cst: $300.000

Mops 380cst: $275.740
Mops 180cst: $287.460

Bunkerwire 380cst: $291.000
Bunkerwire 180cst: $302.000
Bunkerwire Diesel: $497.500
Bunkerwire MGO: $502.500

Compared to yesterday on the 16th Nov, Fuel Price rose up to US$3/-.
Gasoil was US$10 up.

To all Platts Subscriber!

2005-11-16T19:38:00.000-08:00

To further enhance transparency in the Asian products assessment window, Platts will be adhering to the following timing standardsfor physical distillates and fuel oil, plus associated derivatives for publication on Platts Global Alert (PGA) page 190. The new standards will come
into effect Dec 1, 2005.

- Initial physical cargo bid and offers should be submitted no later than 16:00:00 local Singapore time. Platts will consider incremental price changes made to physical bids and offers up to, but no later than, 16:25:00 local Singapore time.

- Initial spread bids and offers in the swaps markets should be submitted no later than 16:15:00 local Singapore time. The cut-off is applicable to spreads including jet/gasoil regrade, 180/380 CST viscosity and time spreads. Platts will consider incremental price changes made to spreads up to 16:30:00 local Singapore time.

- Initial outright swaps bids and offers (eg. December paper) should be submitted no later than 16:20:00 local Singapore time. Platts will consider incremental price changes made to outright swaps positions up to 16:30:00 local Singapore time.

Any open bid or offer published on PGA 190 should be executable by any credible and creditworthy company. Please note that all submissions are firm and those changes expressed too close to the current 17:30:00 time cut-off will be subjected to the customary three minute extension to enable executability. The time extension will also apply in the planned earlier close
of 16:30:00 Singapore time. For questions & comments contact paul_young@platts.com, jimmy_ang@platts.com and jorge_montepeque@platts.com

Prices Down; GS Caltex sells 200,000 MT

2005-11-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asia fuel oil prices fell Wednesday on overnight losses in crude futures.

In the Singapore fuel oil swaps market, December swaps for 180 centistoke fuel oil were quoted at $284.50-$285.00 a metric ton compared with $288.50-$289.00/ton late Tuesday.

The price has fallen by 6% so far this month, but many Chinese buyers still deem it as too high.

"Crude futures in New York are about $57 a barrel now, almost the same as four months ago. However, the current cargo price of (180 cst) fuel oil is still about $30/ton higher than four months ago," said a trader for an end user in South China.

Partly due to this, demand from Chinese buyers, while increasing, is still not as strong as previously expected.

Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp. sold a 30,000-ton cargo of 180 cst fuel oil with 1% sulfur content, 1.06%-1.07% density for November loading to a Chinese trading house, said a company official Wednesday.

The premium of this cargo was lower than usual due to its high density, said the official, who declined to provide more details.

The export volume for December has yet to be decided, he added.

China is also a major buyer for South Korean exports.

GS Caltex, the second-largest refiner in the country, has sold 80% of its cargoes for December loading to China and Singapore, said a company official.

The company plans to export about 200,000 tons of straight-run fuel oil for December loading, unchanged from November, the official also said.

The bulk of December cargoes have already been sold out, with premiums less than $10/ton over the Singapore mean, on a free-on-board South Korea basis, he noted.

In the Singapore cash market, no deal was done Wednesday.

The cargo price of 180 cst fuel oil fell $4.65/ton from Tuesday to $289.05/ton.

-By Sherry Su, Dow Jones Newswires

Prices fall on weakness of Crude Market.

2005-11-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asia's bunker fuel prices were mostly lower Wednesday, in line with continuing weakness in the global crude oil market, traders said.

Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to four-month lows overnight before declining further in electronic trading during Asian trading hours.

Supply of bunker fuel improved in some regional markets, including South Korea and Singapore, while demand remained average, traders said.

With no sign of a rebound in crude oil, bunker fuel prices in Asia could fall another $1-$2 a metric ton in the coming days, traders said.

The price of 380 centistoke bunker fuel was quoted at $287-$290/ton in Singapore, down $2-$3 from Tuesday.

In U.S. dollars a metric ton (delivered basis)

SINGAPORE

Wednesday Tuesday

380 cst 287.00-290.00 289.00-293.00

180 cst 297.00-300.00 303.00-304.00
MGO 460.00-461.00 469.00-470.00
MDO 450.00-451.00 460.00-463.00

-By Feiwen Rong, Dow Jones Newswires

Platts Price 15/11/2005

2005-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

MOPS 180 : 293.70 (premium 4.00)
MOPS 380 : 280.47 (premium 3.75)
VISCO : 13.23
LSWR : 44.65
GO : 60.63
JET : 65.45
NAP : 52.37
DB : 50.57

Platts Price 14/11/2005

2005-11-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

MOPS 180 : 296.57 (premium 4.00)
MOPS 380 : 282.53 (premium 3.75)
LSWR : 45.40
92 : 58.09
GO : 61.63
KERO : 66.68
NAP : 52.98
DB : 51.20

GLOBAL: ISO 8217 Third Edition publication imminent

2005-11-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

The third edition of ISO 8217, International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) specification for marine fuels, is slated for publication before the end of November.

Wanda Fabriek, Convenor of the TC 28/SC4/Working Group (W6) Committee, has told Bunkerspot that the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) ballot on ISO 8217 terminated on 26 September with no negative votes submitted.

The rules on ISO Directives state that publication should occur within two months of the document’s approval at FDIS level - which means that ISO 8217 should be published around 26 November.

Some of the key changes to the standard include:

· The number of residual fuel oil grades has been reduced from 15 to 10, and some grades have been renamed.

· The reference temperature for the viscosity classification of residual fuels has been changed from 100C to 50C. According to Fabriek: ‘This change reflects the commercial market reality of purchasing bunkers on the basis of kinematic viscosity measured and expressed at 50C and not at 100C.’

· Sulphur limits will be aligned to those ratified by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), through MARPOL Annex VI.

· The maximum ash content for the current RMH 35, RMK 35, RMH 55 and RMK 55 grades will be lowered from 0.20% m/m to 0.15% m/m. ‘This is a very significant change,’ noted Fabriek, ‘which further limits those extraneous elements results from the crude and refinery processing that contribute to engine wear and to fouling and corrosion in the engine and exhaust systems.’

· the sediment test by ISO 3735 will be replaced by the Total Sediment Existent by ISO 10307 Part 1, with the maximum limit of 0.10% (m/m).

· The maximum water content limit of residual fuels will be lowered from 0.8% for the current RMD 15 grade and from 1.0% to 0.5 % for all other RM grades.

· There will be specific limits on the permissible levels of zinc, phosphorous and calcium in all the residual fuel categories and in the DMC grade. ‘The aim of this limit,’ explained Fabriek, ‘is to ensure that the fuel shall be free from used lube oils (ULO)’.

The inclusion of the ULO controls in ISO 8217 has been the subject of heated debate in the bunker industry for many years.

Fabriek noted that the working group ‘debated this issue for a long time, seeking to provide the technical evidence for a variety of arguments raised against and for the inclusion of the limits on ULO into the specification.’

The working group also had to consider how to prepare an ‘accurate and precise test methodology for the determination of the selected ULO fingerprinting elements’.