A fuel oil cargo from Malaysia's PRefChem is heading to the United States for the first time since 2023, shipping data showed, as disruptions from the Iran war keep global availability of refinery feedstocks tight.
The low-sulphur and straight-run (LSSR) cargo can be fed into a refining unit to produce higher-margin distillates such as gasoline and diesel. The last fuel oil cargo from PRefChem to the U.S. shipped in May 2023, according to Kpler and LSEG data.
The Solomon Sea departed from the Vopak Dialog Pengerang terminal on August 8 loaded with over 540,000 barrels of LSSR fuel and is scheduled to arrive in the United States in early September, Kpler data showed.
The cargo is heading to a refinery on the U.S. West Coast, a source familiar with the matter said.
State-owned Petronas, which owns the 300,000 barrel-per-day PRefChem refinery in Pengerang, did not respond to a request for comment.
Robust refining margins are supporting refinery demand for feedstocks globally, while supplies remain tight due to the U.S.-Iran war.
Typically, U.S. refiners import fuel oil from nearer regions such as Mexico and Venezuela.
Meanwhile, PRefChem has sold more fuel oil for August loading via recent tenders, trade sources said, with three other cargoes of about 540,000 barrels each of the LSSR atmospheric residue scheduled to load in August.
One cargo loaded between August 12 and 13, ship-tracking data showed, while the other two were offered for loading between August 21 and 22 and August 30 and 31.
The refinery's atmospheric distillation unit was offline from June 21 to July 10, according to data from energy consultancy IIR, which tracks refinery outages.
PRefChem typically produces gasoline and diesel, sporadically producing fuel oil.
