Singapore braced for looming fuel oil deadline
Market backwardation and IMO 2020 adjustments balance storage trends
The Asia-Pacific oil storage sector is facing two countervailing trends in rough balance as it moves into late 2019. Backwardated markets—when spot prices exceed forward contract prices—are discouraging inventory builds, while January 2020's switch to new International Maritime Organization (IMO) fuel oil sulphur content rules is encouraging increased fuel oil and components storage. Looking to a more distant horizon, leading independent oil storage companies highlight a growth in gas and chemicals storage over oil products tankage. Industry officials have broadly focussed on fuel oil storage trends. "The reality is that this industry is in transition. For a period, you may not get double st
Also in this section
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
1 December 2025
The North African producer’s first bidding round in almost two decades is an important milestone but the recent extension suggests a degree of trepidation
