Stocks of fuel oil in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub, as measured by Insights Global, fell 4% to 1.057 million mt in the week Sep 2.

That followed an 18% fall the previous week to 1.103 million mt. The Insights Global data does not provide a breakdown of fuel oil types.

“Demand is weak. Supply fine, but not oversupplied,” one source said of very low sulfur fuel oil, adding that storage economics had weakened compared with recent months.

The average contango structure between front- and second-month 0.5%S FOB Rotterdam barge swaps through August was $3.53/mt, compared with $11.34/mt in April and $9.36/mt in May, which allowed traders to store and roll oil forward amid a lack of incremental demand.

Availability of bunker fuel at the Dutch bunkering hub of Rotterdam has become limited, market sources have said.