According to multiple trade sources and data on ship tracking, China's Hengyi increased fuel oil exports this month from its Brunei refining plant and delayed loadings of the other refined products after an fire occurred at the facility in late May.

The delivery changes indicate that Hengyi cannot process as much fuel as usual into other products, such as naphtha or diesel. This is evidence that the operations at Pulau Muara Besar's 160,000 barrels of oil per day complex have been affected by this fire.

The company reported on May 30, that a fire had occurred in Zone 2, of its petrochemical complex, but it did not mention if the plant's operations were affected.

Hengyi didn't immediately respond to an inquiry on Tuesday regarding the change in gasoil and oil deliveries.

Data from shipping analytics company Kpler revealed that a fuel oil cargo totaling 34,000 metric tonnes is due to leave Brunei Tuesday aboard the vessel Sloman Thetis. It is expected to arrive in Singapore by the end of this week.

Two Singapore-based sources confirmed that Shell is likely to charter the Asphalt Sonata for a cargo of 35,000 tons either of vacuum gasoil, or fuel oil, on June 15.

Two Singapore-based sources confirmed that Hengyi also informed a few buyers in June of the delays to loadings due to production problems.

Brunei has been exporting fuel oil to the refiner in small quantities before. The parcels were always less than 20,000 tonnes.

It wasn't immediately clear whether more fuel oil was planned to be exported for the remainder of June.

Data from Kpler showed that the oil tanker Serene Sea, which was carrying Malaysian crude, had been scheduled to dock at the refinery by June 6, but it is still awaiting discharge. (Reporting and editing by Florence Tan, Sonali Paul and Jeslyn Yap)