Owners are facing smaller gains from operating vessels with scrubbers as the fuel spread “deflates heavily”, according to broker BRS Group.
The French shop said Asia is driving the shrinking of the price differential between cheaper high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and the more expensive very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO).
Asian refineries have been ramping up utilisation and a tightness in vacuum gasoil and residual fuel oil volumes is triggering diverging trends in bunker price benchmarks, the broker added.
