Prices fall as fuel oil strength evaporates. (Products market).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

* The falls on crude futures were filtering through to Russian product markets: Fuel oil, which has outperformed other products for most of the year, looked particularly susceptible to losses. The fate of gasoil prices looked likely to hinge on arbitrage possibilities east and west.

* Russian grades of high-sulphur cracked fuel oil began to lose some of their price resilience as increased supplies began to emerge from Baltic and Black Sea ports. But the re-opening of profitable arbitrage to the Asia-Pacific region may yet stimulate enough demand over the next few weeks to soak up most of the excess.

* There were signs of such demand surfacing towards the end …