Asia Fuel Oil-Benchmarks steady in pre-holiday markets

SINGAPORE, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Asia fuel oil market benchmarks were stable on Tuesday ahead of the Christmas holiday, with trade largely thin in the week.

The market structure softened for both very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), with front-month backwardation narrowing from the previous trading session.

Reflecting the weaker market structure, spot differentials were pegged slightly lower on Tuesday, remaining in narrow premiums to cargo quotes.

Meanwhile, the hi-five spread held narrow at around $93 per metric ton, as VLSFO benchmarks have shown little signs of recovery due to the amply supplied market.

Margins were also rangebound, with Singapore 380-cst HSFO cracks

closing at discounts near $3.80 per barrel, while VLSFO cracks

hovered at premiums above $10 per barrel, showed LSEG data.

OTHER NEWS

- Oil prices were up on Tuesday in thin trade ahead of the Christmas Day holiday, with prices supported by U.S. economic data and rising oil demand in India, the world's third-largest oil importer.

- India's crude oil imports rose 2.6% year-on-year to 19.07 million metric tons in November, government data showed.

- Brazil's Transpetro, a unit of state-run oil firm Petrobras, said that local shipbuilding firms Ecovix and Mac Laren had won a tender to build four new coastal vessels for $69.5 million per vessel.

- Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

WINDOW TRADES

- 180-cst HSFO: No trade

- 380-cst HSFO: No trade

- 0.5% VLSFO: No trade

ASSESSMENTS

FUEL OIL

CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE CHANGE PREV CLOSE RIC

Cargo - 0.5% VLSFO 531.10 -0.77 531.87

Diff - 0.5% VLSFO 2.30 0.05 2.25 <MFO05-SIN-DI

F>

Cargo - 180cst 447.60 -0.06 447.66

Diff - 180cst 3.85 -0.10 3.95 <FO180-SIN-DI

F>

Cargo - 380cst 440.40 -0.63 441.03

Diff - 380cst 4.65 -0.35 5.00 <FO380-SIN-DI

F>

Bunker (Ex-wharf) Premium 9.00 -0.50 9.50

- 380cst

Bunker (Ex-wharf) Premium 7.00 0.50 6.50

- 0.5% VLSFO

For a list of derivatives prices, please refer

to ENSWAP/INFO or the RICs below:

180cst M1

180cst M1/M2

380cst M1

380cst M1/M2

0.5% VLSFO M1

0.5% VLSFO M1/M2

Cracks 180cst-Brent M1

Cracks 180cst-Dubai M1

Cracks 380cst-Brent M1

Cracks 380cst-Dubai M1

Cracks 0.5% VLSFO-Brent M1

Cracks 0.5% VLSFO-Dubai M1

Visco 180cst/380cst M1

Hi-5 0.5% VLSFO/380cst M1

GoFo 10PPM/0.5% VLSFO M1

East-West M1

Barges M1

Barges M1/M2

Crack Barges-Brent M1

(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((jeslyn.lerh@thomsonreuters.com))