Crude futures fluctuated through the morning, following a mixed picture from US inventories this week, with Oct. 20's Energy Information Administration report showing crude oil stocks declining.

The year-on-year increase in throughput was due to run cuts last year, while the monthly decrease was due to autumn refinery turnarounds.

Buyers held off purchases as long as possible in September because the rally in crude oil drove up costs, traders said.

There are "questions around supply and demand in the market and of course when you start heading into the winter people begin to worry and then you have a degree of speculation entering the market,' BP CEO Bernard Looney said at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek.

The company did not export IMO 2020-compliant cargoes over August-October due to higher domestic bunker demand and an unexpected shutdown of its crude distillation unit.

Market feedback suggested it was not common for 0.5%S marine fuel to be delivered from multiple tanks for a single transaction and blended on the receiving vessel in the US for barge-sized transactions.

Demand in South Korea has been below average over the past week, with multiple traders saying it was notably weaker than in September.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. unexpectedly sold a HSFO cargo for prompt loading after a fire broke out at Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery on Oct. 18, fuel oil traders said.