Business

Argus Media: HSFO oversupply widens scrubber spread

HSFO in Rotterdam has declined by almost $20/t since 26 March, broadening the bunker spread from under $90/t in March to $111/t yesterday, reports Argus Media.

Published

5 years ago

April 15, 2021

Admin

George Collard, Nana Kutin, and Enes Tunagur of global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media on Wednesday (14 April) published a summary on the factors behind the fall in HSFO prices and possible implications for the bunker market:

Ample supply of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) in northwest Europe has widened the “scrubber spread” between the price of 3.5% sulphur product and IMO-compliant 0.5% fuel oil.

The price of delivered HSFO in Rotterdam has declined by nearly $20/t since 26 March, but 0.5% fuel oil has risen by $5/t over the same period, broadening the spread between the two grades from under $90/t in late March to $111/t yesterday, the widest in a month.

Abundant supply has weighed on HSFO margins to crude in recent weeks, with the notional discount to front-month Ice Brent futures hitting an 11-month low of $10.96/bl on 9 April. A flurry of cargoes taking HSFO from the Baltic Sea to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading and refining hub has piled pressure on margins because export opportunities remain limited. Baltic Sea fuel oil exports to ARA reached a 17-month high of 1.33mn t in March, up from 915,000t in February, according to Vortexa data.

Fading transatlantic demand for Russian Baltic fuel oil drove the cargoes to northwest Europe. And this rise in inflows from the Baltics coincided with fewer arbitrage departures from ARA to Singapore, the world’s largest buyer of marine fuels. Meanwhile, Middle East demand was the main supporter of European HSFO margins in March, with around 610,000t of fuel oil exported from ARA to the Middle East last month, the highest since at least 2018 according to Vortexa.

The bigger the discount for delivered HSFO to 0.5% fuel oil, the quicker the payback time for a shipowner who has purchased a scrubber. Scrubbers are marine exhaust gas cleaning systems that have allowed ships to continue burning HSFO since the IMO’s 0.5% sulphur cap came into force last year. At the start of 2020, Rotterdam’s scrubber spread was above $300/t. But when the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in transport fuel demand in March last year, the spread narrowed and spent most of 2020 under $70/t.

The price of 0.5% fuel oil fell significantly last March as bunker demand declined, but HSFO values received support from export demand for use in US cokers and for power generation in Asia. The narrowing spread last year led to scrubber demand dropping off after a rush of orders ahead of the IMO cap. According to data from shipping classification firm DNV GL, the number of ships fitted with scrubbers shot up in 2019-20, with over 4,375 in operation or on order globally at the end of last year, compared with just 731 at the end of 2018, but that tally will go up by fewer than 200 this year.

HSFO consumption in Rotterdam was strong in the last quarter of 2020 after ships retrofitted with scrubbers during the year returned to sea. But with few scrubber-fitted ships set to return to service this year, HSFO bunker demand may have peaked. Bunker demand in Europe has been weak this year, with HSFO supply in Dutch ports more than a third lower in January than in December, according to the latest data from Statistics Netherlands.

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Photo credit and source: Argus Media
Published: 15 April, 2021

Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on 17 July.

Published

11 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, has had the remaining 127 charges against him withdrawn, according to The Straits Times on Monday (20 July).

OK Lim was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges, including those for cheating, on 17 July. The discharge means Lim cannot be prosecuted again for the same offences.

Lim, 84, is currently serving a 13½-year prison sentence after the High Court reduced his original 17½-year jail term in March 2026. He was convicted in 2024 on two cheating charges and one count of abetting forgery in a case prosecutors described as one of Singapore’s most serious trade finance frauds.

Lim was convicted in May 2024 of two charges of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery that proceeded to trial out of a total of 130 criminal charges.

He was first charged in court on 14 August 2020, and was subsequently handed further charges in court on 25 September 2020, 30 April 2021 and 24 June 2021 for his role in perpetuating fraud on various financial institutions.

A total of 130 charges were eventually brought against him for cheating and forgery-related offences.

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki
Published: 21 July, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

Coastal Logistics was reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Published

11 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Several resolutions for Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd were made during an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 July, according to a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday (4 July).

The following resolutions were duly passed during the meeting:

As Special Resolution

That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business and accordingly the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018);

As Ordinary Resolutions

that Mr. Wong Pheng Cheong Martin and Ms. Koay May Yee, both care of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte Ltd, One Raffles Quay, #27-10 South Tower, Singapore 048583 be appointed as the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up; and
that the Liquidators be at liberty to open, maintain and operate any bank account(s) or account(s) for monies received by them as Liquidators with such bank(s) as they deem fit; and
that a Committee of Inspection will not be formed.

Manifold Times previously reported Nicholas James Gronow, director of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping and Coastal Logistics, filed statutory declarations for both companies stating the firms cannot continue their businesses due to liabilities.

Both companies were reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

In 2019, several vessels owned by both firms entered the sale & purchase (S&P) market in Singapore.

Photo credit: Drew Beamer
Published: 21 July, 2026

LNG Bunkering

PIL’s LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on LNG and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Published

11 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

PIL's LNG dual-fuel boxship “Kota Elok” arrives in Singapore on maiden call

Singapore-based Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd on Monday (20 July) said its first 13,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel, Kota Elok, recently made her maiden call to Singapore on 15 July.

As the first of 13 new 13,000 TEU vessels joining its fleet, Kota Elok is equipped to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and low-sulphur fuel oil that helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The vessel also incorporated energy-saving features and digital technologies to reduce fuel consumption and enhance operational performance, as well as a bow windshield to improve aerodynamics, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions over the course of long-haul voyages.

“Following Singapore, Kota Elok will continue her voyage on our East Coast Service 1 (ES1) route to South America, calling at ports in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina before returning to Asia,” the company said in a social media post.

Kota Elok also became PIL’s first vessel to receive Lloyd’s Register certification for compliance with the IACS UR E26 and UR E27 cyber security requirements.

Developed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), UR E26 and UR E27 are mandatory cyber resilience requirements for newbuild vessels contracted from 1 July 2024.

Photo credit: Pacific International Lines
Published: 21 July, 2026