Ship-fuel prices at Rotterdam - Europe's largest port - tracked declines in crude amid signs that traders may be trying to transport the material to Singapore, where prices are higher.
Ship fuel, or bunkers, with a viscosity, or thickness, of 380 centistokes, is trading at about US$318 a ton, said Bart Joon, a trader at Rotterdam-based World Fuel Services Corp, the world's biggest bunkers brokerage. That's a decline of 1.5 per cent from May 25.
Crude oil - the main ingredient for making ship fuel - is down 1.9 per cent over the same period.
A so-called arbitrage opportunity, where oil companies exploit price differences between Europe and Asia, is 'marginally open', prompting traders to investigate the possibility of hiring tankers to haul European ship fuel to Singapore, said Angus Ogilvie, a director at Orpington, England- based Cockett Marine Oil Ltd.
Ship fuel for immediate delivery in Singapore cost US$338.50 a ton on Tuesday.
Brent crude oil for delivery in July slipped 0.5 per cent to US$69.37 at 3:12pm on Tuesday here on signs that United States petrol supplies will be adequate to meet summer demand and as Nigerian oil workers ended a strike.
Ship fuel, or bunkers, with a viscosity, or thickness, of 380 centistokes, is trading at about US$318 a ton, said Bart Joon, a trader at Rotterdam-based World Fuel Services Corp, the world's biggest bunkers brokerage. That's a decline of 1.5 per cent from May 25.
Crude oil - the main ingredient for making ship fuel - is down 1.9 per cent over the same period.
A so-called arbitrage opportunity, where oil companies exploit price differences between Europe and Asia, is 'marginally open', prompting traders to investigate the possibility of hiring tankers to haul European ship fuel to Singapore, said Angus Ogilvie, a director at Orpington, England- based Cockett Marine Oil Ltd.
Ship fuel for immediate delivery in Singapore cost US$338.50 a ton on Tuesday.
Brent crude oil for delivery in July slipped 0.5 per cent to US$69.37 at 3:12pm on Tuesday here on signs that United States petrol supplies will be adequate to meet summer demand and as Nigerian oil workers ended a strike.