East of Suez bunker prices are down for a second day today, tracking lower Brent values ahead of today’s OPEC+ meeting.
Changes on the day to 16.00 SGT (08.00 GMT) today:
- VLSFO prices down in Zhoushan ($11/mt) and Singapore ($4/mt), and steady in Fujairah
- LSMGO prices down in Zhoushan ($9/mt), Fujairah ($3/mt) and Singapore ($2/mt)
- HSFO380 prices down in Zhoushan ($7/mt), Singapore ($6/mt) and Fujairah ($5/mt)
Fujairah’s VLSFO price has been resilient to Brent’s losses on the day, maintaining its levels on the back of a higher priced stem of 500-1500 mt. As a result, the UAE bunkering hub is the most expensive option, standing at $13-16/mt premiums over Singapore and Zhoushan.
Fujairah’s bunker market continues to be tight for all three fuel grades, although lead times have come down some on the week.
At the same time, Fujairah’s fuel oil stocks shrunk by 4.2% to 7.39 million bbls in the week to 1 November, data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) and S&P Global Platts showed yesterday.
Singapore’s Hi5 spread has inched up by $2/mt to $151/mt, as its HSFO380 price declined by more than its VLSFO. Similarly, Fujairah’s price difference between the two fuel grades widened by $5/mt to $130/mt.
Brent
Front-month ICE Brent has extended its decline by shedding $0.91/bbl on the day to 16.00 SGT (08.00 GMT), when it traded at $82.43/bbl.
Traders await signals from today’s OPEC+ meeting for price direction. Brent has traded down this week amid expectations that the group will stay on its current path of increment monthly 400,000 b/d output increases.
An expert committee advising OPEC+ kept its supply-demand forecast largely unchanged for the remainder of the year. Member states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Angola have reiterated support for the status quo, seeing no major changes giving grounds for a supply hike, despite renewed calls from US President Biden to open the taps wider to cool prices.
Brent has also seen headwind from a bigger-than-expected weekly build in US crude inventories, and from a heightened possibility that Iran nuclear negotiations could resume.
Negotiations have been put on ice since Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was elected in July, amid scepticism from both sides. A resumption of negotiations is slotted in for 29 November, and could pave the way for the US to lift sanctions on about 1.5 million b/d of Iranian crude.
Iran’s chief negotiator for the talks, Ali Bagheri Kani, confirmed the meeting after speaking to EU envoy Enrique Mora.
“In a phone call with @enriquemora_, we agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna,” he tweeted yesterday.