SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - Asia's fuel oil prices tracked the Brent crude benchmark

lower on Tuesday but were supported by strengthening fundamentals.

The second-month May swap slipped a slight 50 cents from the previous day to close at

$732.88 in heavy trade of nearly 200,000 tonnes.

One spot physical deal was also transacted. A 20,000-tonne lot of 180-centistoke (cst)

traded at a premium of $12.50 a tonne to 380-cst Singapore spot quotes.

Regional demand from Vietnam has not been as strong as initially expected. State-owned

Petrolimex, faced with high price levels, has so far purchased just half of the 180,000 tonnes

it initially sought.

Utility demand from South Korea prompted Western Power Co Ltd to enter the spot market,

seeking 60,000 tonnes of high-sulphur fuel oil for May-June delivery.

The market can also expect to receive some support from the Middle East, where demand is

picking up.

Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, the country's sole refinery, aims to import over 200,000

tonnes of fuel oil for power generation as continued attacks on a pipeline running through

Egypt, Israel and Jordan disrupt natural gas supply.

That increased demand has prompted at least one seller to pull volumes from East Asia, with

Sahara Energy International arranging a ship to move 80,000 tonnes of fuel oil from Singapore to

Aqaba around April 16, a shipping report showed.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has also issued a tender seeking more fuel oil for the May-June

period ahead of peak summer power generation demand.

The state-owned company is looking to import 650,000 tonnes of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO),

200,000 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), 210,000 tonnes of 87-octane gasoline and 50,000

tonnes of jet fuel.

Bids are to be made on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis to Karachi, with the tender closing on

April 27 and remaining valid till May 5.

This comes on top of the 650,000 tonnes of fuel oil PSO had already bought for its second

quarter in March, though the company refrained from LSFO buys then.

FUEL OIL

TENDERS/SPOT

ISSUER BUY/SELL GRADE VOL LAYCAN CLOSE (VALID)

('000T)

Korea/WP Buy HSFO 30 May 14-18 April 18

(Pyong Taek) (April 18)

Korea/WP Buy HSFO 30 May 30-June 3 April 18

(Pyong Taek) (April 18)

CASH TRADES

Grade Seller Buyer Vol Laycan Price

(Transaction)

180cst BP Vitol 20KT April 25-29 MOPS 380cst

+$12.50

CASH ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev Close RIC

Cargo - 180cst $736.10 -$1.35 -0.18 $737.45

Diff - 180cst $1.85 -$0.40 -17.78 $2.25

Diff - 380cst $1.90 -$0.40 -17.39 $2.30

Bunker (Ex-wharf) Premium $5.80 $2.17 60.00 $3.63

SWAPS ($/T) ASIA CLOSE Change % Change Prev Close RIC

(0830 GMT)

Brent M1 $122.04 -$0.42 -0.34 $122.46

180cst M1 $735.63 -$1.12 -0.15 $736.75

180cst M1/M2 $2.75 -$0.63 -18.64 $3.38

180cst M2 $732.88 -$0.50 -0.07 $733.38

Visco M1 $10.88 -$0.25 -2.25 $11.13

Visco M2 $11.00 -$0.13 -1.17 $11.13

380cst M1 $724.75 -$0.88 -0.12 $725.63

380cst M1/M2 $2.88 -$0.50 -14.79 $3.38

380cst M2 $721.88 -$0.37 -0.05 $722.25

Cracks 180-Dubai M1 -$5.44 $0.38 -6.53 -$5.82

Cracks 180-Dubai M2 -$5.33 $0.28 -4.99 -$5.61

East-West M1 $43.75 $0.00 0.00 $43.75

East-West M2 $39.75 $1.12 2.90 $38.63

Barges M1 $691.88 -$1.12 -0.16 $693.00

Barges M1/M2 -$1.25 $0.50 -28.57 -$1.75

Barges M2 $693.13 -$1.62 -0.23 $694.75

Crack Barges-Brent M1 -$15.40 $0.18 -1.16 -$15.58

Crack Barges-Brent M2 -$15.20 $0.24 -1.55 -$15.44

SWAP TRADES

Contract Price range Vols

('000T)

180cst May $730.50-$734.00 180

180cst April/May $2.75-$3.00 35

180cst May/June $3.00 50

180cst Q3/Q4 $11.25 30

380cst May $719.00-$722.25 20

380cst April/May $2.75-$3.00 45

April viscosity $11.00 60

May viscosity $11.00-$11.25 10

(Reporting by Jasmin Choo and Lee Yen Nee; Editing by Jane Baird)

Keywords: MARKETS ASIA/FUELOIL

(jasmin.choo@thomsonreuters.com)(+65-68703093)(Reuters Messaging: jasmin.choo.reuters.com@reuters.net

Source: http://www.xe.com/news/2012/04/10/2600021.htm?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=TL&utm_content=NOGEO&utm_campaign=News_RSS_Art12