Bunker operations in Sri Lanka were expected to be normal in July, with moderate demand as the monsoon season continues, sources said, adding that sales have been lower of late than seen during a busy June.

Crude oil futures plunged more than 7% during midmorning New York trading July 5 with NYMEX WTI falling below $100/b as recession fears flooded the market amid the return of US traders following a long holiday weekend.

Crude prices moved sharply lower July 5, with ICE Brent dropping 9.5%, as recession fears fueled demand growth concerns, overshadowing continued global supply tightness.

Scheduled global airline capacity rose about 1.5 million seats, or 1.5%, to 101.4 million seats for the week started July 4, with many regions registering small increases, aviation data company OAG said, indicating rising jet fuel demand.

Market sources said Asia could also be one of the major destinations for Russian HSFO cargoes after the West placed sanctions on Russian oil imports.

Sales of fuel oil, also known as furnace oil, declined due to lower demand for electricity during the period, which adversely affected the performance of the fuel segment.

Russia's Rosneft said that throughput at its Russian refineries in 2021 rose 2.3% on the year to 95.1 million mt. In Q4, they processed 23.4 million mt, up 1.6% on the year

US crude inventories dropped more than 3 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 24, in line with industry expectations, after falling by just shy of 4 million barrels the week before, American Petroleum Institute data released late Dec. 28 showed.

Beijing controls China's domestically produced oil product exports by quotas.

"Not all physical suppliers here [in Singapore] supply HSFO. Shipping bottlenecks and delayed vessel sailing schedules [in the Asian region] are also weighing on overall demand," an industry source said.

It will also impose a ban on EU operators insuring and financing the shipping of oil from Russia to third countries.

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The company said it had received "widespread support" for the move.

Sources also said there has been no HSFO available for sale since early-2020.

With Sinopec addition, there are now 42 licensed suppliers in Singapore, which has seen its accredited bunker supplier list shrink from over 50 in September 2017 to 45 in January 2021 and 41 in August 2021.

MPA's recommendations follow its investigation into bunker fuel quality in Singapore after reports that several ships were affected by tainted fuel containing high concentration of chlorinated organic compounds.

Increased gasoil prices have led low sulfur straight run barrels coming out of Skikda, Algeria, to flow into feedstock markets, rather than into very low sulfur fuel oil pools.

Not included in this latest round is a ban on oil imports, despite calls from some member states for that.

The EU has to date imposed sanctions on Russian energy, focusing on areas such as investment and technology sales, but there has been no outright ban on imports, although Germany is moving to try to limit its use of Russian gas.