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Oil refiner Saudi Aramco is reported to have sold two cargoes of fuel oil totalling up to 145,000 tonnes, for delivery next month.

The first lot of 53,000 - 55,000 tonnes of straight-run long-residue 380-centistoke (cst) fuel oil is scheduled for delivery from Saudi Aramco's joint venture Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery (SASREF) in Jubail on April 6-8.

The cargo is reported to have been sold to oil major Shell at a discount of $2-$3 per tonne to spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Meanwhile, the second A961 90,000-tonne parcel of 180-cst is due to be loaded from Aramco's 525,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery on April 10-12.

Sharjah-based FAL Oil is understood to have purchased the cargo at a discount of $4-$5 per tonne to Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

The A961 parcel is said to be more suited for supply into Pakistan rather than the local Fujairah bunker market. National ol marketer Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd. is a regular buyer of fuel oil from the Middle East, purchasing between 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes a month of 120-180 cst fuel oil for power generation.

According to market sources, there was little competition from Singapore for the A961 cargo, which resulted in lower price levels. The East Asia market is currently oversupplied with high viscosity cargoes due to Western arbitrage arrivals of 3.3-3.4 million tonnes and five-year high volumes of 4.2-4.3 million tonnes in March and April respectively.

However, the Middle East market remains tight, as shown by the recent higher price levels paid for two 80,000-tonne Kuwait Petroleum Corp(KPC) 380-centistoke (cst) cargoes by Jeddah-based fuel oil trader and bunker supplier Bakri International Energy Co. Ltd..

The first cargo of cracked 380-cst fuel oil was reportedly sold at a premium of approximately $9 per tonne to Middle East spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, up from $5-$6 premium previously. It is scheduled for lifting on April 13-14 from Shuaiba.

The second lot, said to be traded at a premium of around $15 per tonne to Middle East quotes, is due to be loaded on a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer basis off the tanker Al Samidoon.

Supplies have remained tight in the Middle East due to the 45-day maintenance shutdown of Aramco's 400,000 bpd SAMREF refinery in Yanbu from the end of this month and the upcoming peak summer demand season in Saudi Arabia from May.