Straight-Run Fuel Oil & Atmospheric Residue (SRFO, LSWR, M100 Grade)

Unblended atmospheric residue for coker, cracker and residue-unit feed, and LSWR

Straight-run fuel oil is atmospheric residue: the bottom of the crude distillation column before any cracking or blending, which is why refiners with vacuum units, cokers and residue crackers buy it as feed rather than burning it. It can be blended with other components into bunker fuel, but its main use is as feedstock for conversion units that turn it into gasoline and diesel. It is declared under HS 2710.19. US Gulf Coast refiners are the best-documented importers, and their straight-run fuel oil imports reached record levels in 2024 as Middle Eastern and African suppliers raised exports; Platts continues to assess low-sulphur straight-run fuel oil on the US Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, having discontinued some high-sulphur straight-run assessments in 2021 for lack of spot activity. Low-sulphur waxy residue (LSWR) is the Indonesian version, a low-sulphur resid used across Asia as conversion feed and fuel oil blendstock: Pertamina exports V-500 LSWR from Balikpapan and straight-run LSWR from Dumai, Indonesia produced about 22.8 million barrels in 2018, and Platts assesses FOB Indonesia LSWR. M100 is a grade name from the GOST 10585 heating fuel oil standard, specifying viscosity, ash, sulphur class, flash point and heat of combustion; CBIL treats it as a specification to test against, not as an origin.

A residue buyer checks sulphur, density, viscosity, pour point, Conradson carbon, asphaltenes, metals and water, and needs the cargo to be what it says: straight-run, not cracked or cutter-blended. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers straight-run fuel oil and LSWR against the producing refinery named on the certificate of analysis, SGS or Intertek quantity and quality inspection at the load terminal, and a named buyer or charterer. Residual fuels attract more fabricated offers than almost any other oil product: the Port of Rotterdam's storage-spoofing task force received reports of deals with an offered value of EUR 2.5 billion in 2025, and its blacklist holds more than 1,250 fake terminal websites. Offers built on tank storage receipts, dip tests, SCO/ICPO/FCO sequences or advance fees are not worked, and an SGS or Intertek report proves quality, not title. Cargoes move as MARPOL Annex I oil in heated product tankers on FOB and CIF terms, priced by reference to Platts or Argus. Send the grade, sulphur and viscosity limits, tonnage, discharge port and laycan, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.