Americas bunker prices have been pushed down by declining Brent values after US crude stocks grew by more than expected.
Changes on the day to 09.30 CST (14.30 GMT) today:
- VLSFO prices down in Balboa ($12/mt), Los Angeles and Zona Comun ($10/mt), New York ($4/mt) and Houston ($2/mt)
- LSMGO prices down in New York ($23/mt), Zona Comun ($12/mt), Balboa ($8/mt), Houston and Los Angeles ($5/mt)
- HSFO380 prices down in Los Angeles ($18/mt), New York ($16/mt), Houston ($9/mt) and Balboa ($7/mt)
New York’s HSFO380 and LSMGO prices have come off considerably with downward pressure from lower-priced stems. Availability remains tight in the East Coast port, however, with only some suppliers able to accommodate prompt stems.
VLSFO prices have made significant losses in Los Angeles, Balboa and Zona Comun. Balboa’s price has come down to a $10/mt premium over Houston, where the price has been rangebound in the past day.
The price gap between Balboa and Houston has gradually been narrowing this week, after rising on tight availability in Balboa and peaking at more than $50/mt last week.
Supply is still tight in Panama. Three suppliers in Balboa have limited availability of VLSFO and LSMGO to supply for prompt dates and can only deliver toward the end of the week.
US fuel oil inventory levels fell by 358,000 bbls in the week to 29 October, when they stood at 29.38 million bbls, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Lower fuel oil production contributed to pull fuel oil out of storage.
Brent
Front-month ICE Brent has extended its losses by dropping $1.40/bbl lower on the day, to $82.88/bbl at 09.30 CST (14.30 GMT).
A larger-than-expected build in official EIA US crude inventories has weighed on Brent today. The country’s inventories grew by 3.29 million bbls to 434.10 million bbls – the biggest they have been since August.
The weekly gain was more than the 2.2 million-bbl rise analysts polled by Reuters expected.
Inventories grew despite refinery utilisation rates coming up by 1.2 percentage points to 86.30%, helped by a big ramp-up on the Gulf Coast.
Gasoline stocks fell by 1.49 million bbls to four-year lows of 214.26 million bbls amid lower production and robust demand. Distillate stocks grew by 2.16 million bbls, boosted by higher production.
Brent had already been under pressure from yesterday’s crude inventory figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API). They showed a build of 3.60 million bbls – more than twice as much as analysts polled by Reuters expected.