East of Suez bunker prices are mixed on the day amid a dip in Brent, and lead times for certain bunker fuels in Singapore have improved slightly.

 

Changes on the day to 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT):

· VLSFO prices up in Zhoushan ($10/mt) and Fujairah ($3/mt), and down in Singapore ($11/mt)

· LSMGO prices up in Zhoushan ($10/mt), and down in Singapore ($13/mt) and Fujairah ($1/mt)

· HSFO380 prices up in Fujairah ($3/mt), and down in Singapore ($15/mt)

 

Singapore’s HSFO380 price slipped on the day, to widen its discount to Fujairah to $28/mt. HSFO380 lead times in Singapore and Fujairah are up to 10 days out.

 

Singapore’s VLSFO and LSMGO lead times have shortened slightly to 10-11 days and 6-8 days, respectively, while Fujairah’s have come down to eight days.

 

Zhoushan has seen tighter VLSFO availability, with suggested lead times rising to up to eight days out now.

 

Fujairah’s VLSFO price has flipped to a $6/mt discount to Zhoushan’s, while widening its premium over Singapore to $15/mt.

 

Brent

Front-month ICE Brent has dropped $1.89/bbl on the day, to $89.14/bbl at 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT) today.

 

Brent’s rally has run out of steam and the futures contract has slipped down from seven-year highs ahead of tomorrow’s OPEC+ meeting.

 

Some market participants think OPEC+ could phase back production cuts earlier than initially planned. Goldman Sachs says the recent price rally has put pressure on the group from its oil importers and could trigger bigger monthly output increases, according to Reuters.

 

But OPEC+ is still expected to continue to increase its output target by 400,000 b/d for March.

 

“$100 oil might not be too far away as expectations are high that supply will not come close to catching up with demand as OPEC+ will deliver gradual production increase targets that they will fall short of reaching,” says OANDA strategist Ed Moya.

 

The US and Russia clashed at the UN Security Council over troop build-up near Ukraine, accusing the other of being “provocative,” Reuters reports.

 

“The oil market is likely to remain very tight given the geopolitical risks and slower production increases despite high crude prices as oil giants focus on clean energy transition,” Moya adds.

 

Oil demand may be spurred by cold weather in the US and high gas prices in Europe, says ANZ strategist Daniel Hynes.

 

Markets will also digest weekly US oil inventory data to be released by the American Petroleum Institute later today.