Rotterdam’s bio-bunker sales surged in Q1 2024

Dutch biofuel rebates steady

Singapore’s B24-VLSFO premium over pure VLSFO narrowed

PHOTO: Container ship with working crane bridge in shipyard in Singapore. Getty Images

Changes in weekly bio-bunker prices (ENGINE-PRIMA Markets):

• Singapore’s B24-VLSFO UCOME down by $23/mt to $724/mt
• Singapore’s B24-LSMGO UCOME down by $24/mt to $812/mt
• Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE down by $6/mt to $725/mt
• Rotterdam’s B30-LSMGO HBE up by $2/mt at $834/mt
• Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO UCOME down by $26/mt to $787/mt
• Rotterdam’s B30-LSMGO UCOME down by $18/mt to $896/mt

Singapore

Singapore’s B24-VLSFO and B24-LSMGO UCOME benchmarks have come down by $23-24/mt in the past week. The prices have declined despite a $5/mt increase in UCOME FOB China. The price gains of UCOME FOB China have been supported by the strengthening of downstream waste oil prices, PRIMA Markets reports. 

Singapore’s B24-VLSFO price drop has been much steeper compared to Rotterdam’s B30 VLSFO HBE price decline. The price moves have erased Singapore’s B24-VLSFO premium of $16/mt over Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO and flipped to a slight discount. These are of course different blend ratios, but they represent the lowest-priced typical biofuel blends in the world’s two biggest bunker ports for comparison.

The premium of B24-VLSFO over pure VLSFO has narrowed by $23/mt to $71/mt in the past week, while the premium of B24-LSMGO over pure LSMGO has narrowed by $24/mt to $41/mt.

B24-VLSFO price in Singapore was trading around $35/mt lower than Hong Kong’s B24-VLSFO and a significant $110/mt lower than B24-VLSFO indicated in Khor Fakkan on Friday.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE price has shed $6/mt in the past week, while its B30-LSMGO HBE price has inched $2/mt higher. Biofuel price premiums over pure conventional fuels are $118/mt for B30-VLSFO blend and $83/mt for B30-LSMGO blend.

The 2024 ticket price for advanced HBE has been roughly steady at €8.60/GJ ($9.26/GJ) in the past week. “The stagnant market is due to a lack of activity in the market as well as lower overall HVO prices and a stagnant biodiesel market,” PRIMA Markets stated. The rebate is around $82/mt for B30 blends sold in the Netherlands, making it lucrative to bunker advanced biofuel blends in Dutch ports compared to ports in Belgium and other countries where discounts don’t exist.

In Rotterdam, around 263,000 mt of bio-bunkers were sold in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 13% from the 233,000 mt sold in the previous quarter. Bio-bunker sales were at their highest since the fourth quarter of 2022.

Rotterdam’s B30-LSMGO and B30-VLSFO UCOME prices have declined $18-26/mt in the past week.

Gibraltar's B24-VLSFO UCOME has been indicated about $3/mt lower than Rotterdam's B30-VLSFO UCOME in the past week.

By Nithin Chandran

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