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Saudi Aramco has sold an 80,000-90,000 tonne cargo of 380-centistoke (cst) fuel oil for loading in October, according to industry sources. It is the fourth parcel sold by the Saudi Arabian refiner over the past two weeks.

The 380-cst cargo, scheduled for lifting on October 16-18 from the Arabian coast port of Jubail, is reported to have been sold to a bunker player in the Fujairah marine fuels market at a discount of $2.50 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

In total, four fuel oil cargoes have now been sold by Saudi Aramco over the past two weeks with the other three parcels originating from the company's Rabigh refinery on the Red Sea coast.

Aramco began offering unusually high volumes of A962 cracked fuel oil after its fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit at the Rabigh refinery experienced an outage. As a large percentage of the fuel oil had not been cracking in the FCC, this led to higher exports of A962.

The previous three cargoes sold were scheduled to load on September 14-15, 17-19, and 24-25. The Sep 14-15 cargo was reported to have been sold to Bakri at a premium of $2 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes, FOB, with the next parcel going to Trafigura at a much higher premium of $4-$5 per tonne above Singapore spot quotes, FOB.

The parcel loading on Sept. 24-25 was sold to an undisclosed party at an unknown price.

Towards the end of last month Saudi Aramco sold a similar-sized cargo of 380-cst fuel oil for lifting from Jubail in September. It was reported to have been sold to Vitol at a premium of $1-$2 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The deal price was higher than a discount of approximately $4 per tonne Vitol paid for an 80,000-tonne cargo of 380-cst loading on August 21st.

The discount paid for the latest cargo of 380-cst reflects a slight improvement for buyers previously paying premiums for similar cargoes earlier in the month. Middle East and East Asia markets have been tight since earlier this month, due to a shortage of Iranian supplies into Fujairah and Middle East demand for fuel oil holding firm mainly due to peak demand during the summer season.

In addition, less than 3.0 million tonnes of Western arbitrage volumes are expected to arrive in east Asia next month, down from 3.7-3.8 million tonnes this month and below average levels of 3.0-3.5 million tonnes as European refiners cut production runs.