East of Suez bunker prices are mostly up on the day, tracking rising Brent values for another day.
Changes on the day to 16.00 SGT (08.00 GMT) today:
- VLSFO prices up in Singapore ($6/mt), Fujairah ($5/mt) and steady in Zhoushan
- LSMGO prices up in Singapore ($5/mt), steady in Fujairah, and down in Zhoushan
- HSFO380 prices up in Fujairah ($11/mt), Zhoushan and Singapore ($4/mt)
Zhoushan’s bunker market remains well supplied with fuel oil, and stems require bookings of 2-3 days ahead. The Chinese port’s VLSFO premium over Singapore narrowed on the day to a stand at $2/mt.
Lead times for VLSFO stems are down in Singapore, dropping from nine days earlier in the week to 6-7 days now.
Singapore’s Hi5 spread has widened by a further $2/mt on the day to a high of $128/mt, while Fujairah’s price spread between the two fuel grades has narrowed by $6/mt to $121/mt.
Suppliers in the southern Chinese ports of Fangcheng and Qinzhou have replenished stocks and started offering VLSFO and LSMGO again as of yesterday, after having been out of the two products for two weeks.
At the same time, a supplier has run out of VLSFO in the Chinese area of Shandong, including the ports of Qingdao, Rizhao, Lanshan and Yantai. The bunker supplier can still offer for HSFO380 and LSMGO as there is no shortage of these products.
Brent
The ICE Brent September futures contract has extended on a three-day rise by gaining $0.61/bbl on the day to 16.00 SGT (08.00 GMT) today, when it stood at $76.29/bbl.
Brent has been gaining on the prospect of disintegration of the OPEC+ pact. The group has shown discipline in sticking to output curbs since historic cuts of 10 million b/d were made in April last year to prop up oil prices.
OPEC+ failed to reach an agreement that would have seen 2 million b/d of supply cuts eased between August and December.
“The OPEC+ stalemate means that until a compromise can be reached, production quotas will remain at July’s levels. In that case, oil markets will tighten significantly as demand rebounds from last year’s Covid-induced plunge,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly outlook yesterday.
Faced with predictions of a further global recovery from the pandemic, and recent big draws of US and other developed countries’ crude inventories, global crude supply is tightening.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will publish weekly crude inventory data at 14.30 GMT today, possibly giving the market more direction then.