State-owned PetroEcuador awarded 1.14mn bl of residual fuel oil to trader Freepoint Commodities in its latest sale tender.
Freepoint successfully offered a discount of $10.15/bl to the US Gulf coast high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) price benchmark. Argus assessed US Gulf HSFO fob at $54.90/bl average for the period 1-14 December. PetroEcuador expects to generate about $58.7mn from the sale.
The fuel oil will be exported in six cargoes of 190,000 bl each, from December 2022 to February 2023. Thirty-nine companies were invited to the tender, of which six submitted bids. Freepoint outbid Galtrade, Glencore, Novum Energy, PetroChina and Trafigura, which offered discounts from $11.98-$17.97/bl, PetroEcuador reported.
In addition to the latest tender, PetroEcuador in 2022 awarded three HSFO export tenders totaling 5.89mn bl. Lukoil won 1.52mn bl for February-April pickup at $3.17/bl discount to HSFO. Petrochina won 2.09mn bl for June-July pickup at $3.79 discount and Freepoint won 2.28mn bl for August-October pickup at $10.38/bl discount. The bulk of Ecuador's fuel oil exports have moved to Panama, the US Gulf coast and US west coast, according to Vortexa data.

