Bunker prices have mostly been rangebound in Europe and Africa since Friday, while VLSFO prices have surged in Scandinavia amid tight prompt availability.
Changes on the day from Friday, to 08.00 GMT today:
· VLSFO prices up in Durban ($5/mt), and down in Rotterdam and Gibraltar ($3/mt)
· LSMGO prices down in Rotterdam ($4/mt) and Gibraltar ($2/mt)
· HSFO prices up in Gibraltar ($2/mt), and down in Rotterdam ($3/mt)
VLSFO availability has tightened off Skaw and in Gothenburg, lifting their prices to higher premiums over ARA ports.
Skaw and Gothenburg’s VLSFO prices have jumped $25-26/mt higher since Friday, despite declining Brent crude values. Their prices have surged to wider premiums over Rotterdam, where prices have dipped with crude.
The Scandinavian locations’ LSMGO and HSFO380 prices have, by contrast come down against Rotterdam.
Resupply could ease the VLSFO tightness in Scandinavia soon. Two low sulphur fuel oil cargoes due to arrive in Gothenburg today and tomorrow, according to cargo tracking.
A bunker supplier in Gibraltar has slight congestion at berth, where one vessel is in line to bunker this morning, port agent MH Bland says.
Gibraltar’s VLSFO price remains at a wide $30/mt premium over Rotterdam, amid tight prompt availability in the Gibraltar Strait region.
Brent
Front-month ICE Brent has traded slightly down since Friday, extending its decline by $0.17/bbl to $81.71/bbl at 08.00 GMT today.
Soaring US inflation and gasoline prices could trigger a release from US emergency crude reserves and weigh on Brent. US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 11 other Democrats have called on President Biden to take decisive action amid lower polling numbers and signs that unaffordable fuel prices could hold back the country’s economic recovery, Reuters reports.
Uncertainty about future market direction has brought net long positions on Brent down to yearly lows, Saxo Bank wrote in a note.
Iran-US nuclear talks are set to resume later this month. Prospects for a resolution between the parties, and the eventual possibility of more Iranian crude phased back into the market, will likely lead to more price volatility, according to DailyFX analyst Dimitri Zabelin.
“Expectations seem to be heavily tilted against the likelihood of a breakthrough. If progress is achieved nevertheless, the adjustment to new geopolitical circumstances will probably manifest in larger-than-usual price swings,” Zabelin says.