MARKET TALK: Fuel Oil Arb: Brightoil, Trafigura Book Caribs Cargoes

[Dow Jones] Chartering activity primarily from the Caribbean continues at a steady pace despite weak arbitrage economics to ship fuel oil to Singapore. While some of the fixtures, like PetroChina’s VLCCs from Venezuela, are routine, more Suezmaxes are being booked from the USG/Caribs region, reflecting confidence of a rebound in the Singapore market amid persistent demand from China, traders say. Brightoil and Trafigura charter one Suezmax each for loading Feb. 20-25 in the Caribs. PetroChina charters VLCC Amantea and Albutain Star for loading from Caribs Feb. 27 and Feb. 17, respectively at $4.60 million-$4.70 million. Meanwhile in ARA region, Koch was heard chartering Tianlong Spirit for Feb. 20 loading from Rotterdam at $3.80 million, but the fixture couldn’t be confirmed.

  • Gurdeep Singh, Dow Jones Newswires