East of Suez bunker prices have inched down from Friday’s levels, and HSFO380 has tightened in Zhoushan.
Changes on the day to 16.00 SGT (08.00 GMT) today:
- VLSFO prices down in Singapore ($14/mt), Zhoushan ($12/mt) and Fujairah ($5/mt)
- LSMGO prices down in Fujairah ($17/mt), Zhoushan ($11/mt) and Singapore ($9/mt)
- HSFO380 prices up in Zhoushan ($3/mt), and down in Singapore ($14/mt) and Fujairah ($7/mt)
HSFO380 has tightened in Zhoushan this week. Two suppliers have limited availability of the grade.
HSFO380 has risen by $3/mt since Friday the Chinese port, while Singapore and Fujairah losses during the same period. Prompt supply is also tight in Singapore and Fujairah, where lead times of up to eight days are recommended.
Singapore’s Hi5 spread has gained $3/mt since Friday, rising back to its highest levels since 27 August. At the same time, Fujairah’s Hi5 spread has dropped by $2/mt.
Brent
Front-month ICE Brent crude has come down by $1.14/bbl on the day since Friday, to $71.95/bbl at 16.00 (08.00 GMT) today.
Brent is down amid downward price pressure from Saudi Aramco’s decision to cut some crude prices by more than expected. Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer lowered its selling price to Asia by more than $1/bbl, hinting at weaker demand.
“While a decrease was expected by the market, the cut was larger than anticipated. A combination of increased Saudi output and soft demand in Asia appears to have contributed to the decrease,” ING head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson said today.
Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC+ have stuck to its plan of bringing back 400,000 b/d of output to the market per month going forward, despite US calls to pump more.
US job creation undershot analyst predictions in August. 235,000 non-farm payroll jobs were added in August, less than a quarter of the 1.05 million new jobs added in July, US Labor Department data showed on Friday.
On the supply side, 1.61 million b/d of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut in after Hurricane Ida lashed across the Gulf and into Louisiana a week ago.
“The impact of the storm on oil output and flows is clearly more significant than the market was expecting,” Patterson said.
104 of the 288 oil platforms that were evacuated in preparation for Ida are still unmanned. Five of 11 evacuated rigs are unmanned.