Singapore’s high-sulphur marine fuel market seeing supply squeeze: Argus

[SINGAPORE] A supply squeeze is developing in Singapore's high-sulphur marine fuel market as wars disrupt supplies even as demand at the world’s largest bunkering hub continues to rise.

Data from energy and commodity market intelligence provider Argus indicated that the East-West high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) swap spread – a key indicator of the forward price difference between Singapore and Rotterdam – reached a record US$95 a tonne on Oct 7, before easing to US$88 a tonne the following day.

The widening premium shows how much more the market expects fuel to cost in Asia than in north-west Europe, pointing to acute near-term tightness in Singapore, said Bob Wigin, fuel oil and oil products pricing analyst at Argus.