East Asian imports of Western fuel oil are set to rise nearly a third in December to a higher than expected 2.1-2.3 million tonnes, piling more pressure on weakening crack spreads, traders said.

BP alone has fixed tankers to carry about 40 per cent of the volume, an unusually large share for the oil major, which traders said reflected an effort to support values in Europe.
The higher overall arbitrage volumes have turned the tide on a recovering fuel oil market, with crack spreads slumping to their lowest level since mid-September.
“BP is supporting prices in Europe and has had to buy quite a bit of physical cargoes there. But the market there is quite heavily supplied so they have to push some of the cargoes here,” a Singapore-based Western trader said.
The oil major has fixed two very large crude carriers from Europe for Dec 11-20 arrival – the Olympic Legacy and the Iran Daylam. It has also booked a third VLCC – the Front Eagle – for November 25 loading of a PDVSA cargo.
If the third cargo is confirmed, BP would top its June import volume of 800,000 tonnes to make its biggest one-month arbitrage flow for the past two years. Normally it imports about 250,000-350,000 tonnes of Western fuel oil each month.
Total imports are set to be the highest since September.