Prices in East of Suez ports have been rangebound, and prompt VLSFO availability remains tight in Zhoushan.

Changes on the day from Friday, to 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT) today:

• VLSFO prices up in Zhoushan ($4/mt), and down in Fujairah ($2/mt) and Singapore ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices down in Singapore ($8/mt), Zhoushan ($4/mt) and Fujairah ($1/mt)
• HSFO prices down in Singapore ($8/mt), Fujairah ($4/mt) and Zhoushan ($3/mt)

Most bunker benchmarks in East of Suez ports have remained rangebound over the weekend, with no significant deviations. Zhoushan’s VLSFO price has flipped from near parity with Fujairah and Singapore to marginal premiums of $6/mt and $10/mt, respectively.

Prompt VLSFO availability in Zhoushan remains tight, as some suppliers are running low on stocks. Lead times of 5-7 days are recommended for this grade, largely unchanged from last week. Some suppliers expect VLSFO replenishment stocks to arrive by mid-month, according to a source.

HSFO and LSMGO grades are more readily available in Zhoushan, with lead times now advised at 3-5 days, down slightly from 5-7 days last week.

In Hong Kong, lead times of around seven days are recommended for all grades, nearly unchanged from the previous week. Bunker deliveries resumed at the port on Saturday after a two-day suspension caused by Typhoon Yagi's bad weather.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has lost $1.00/bbl on the day from Friday, to trade at $71.74/bbl at 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

Brent’s price found some support following OPEC’s latest announcement to extend the ongoing 2.2 million b/d oil production cuts for two months.

Last week, eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies collectively decided to postpone the gradual easing of production cuts that were planned to begin in October.

Oil’s selloff was “briefly halted by the announcement that OPEC would postpone its production hikes by two months,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

In eastern Europe, supply disruption concerns have continued over the weekend, adding some upward pressure on Brent’s price. A series of fires broke out at a fuel depot in Volokonovsky district in Russia's Belgorod region yesterday, its Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed.

The fire was caused by falling drone debris launched by the Ukrainian armed forces, Gladkov claimed.

Downward pressure:

Brent’s price trailed lower as economic activity in the US continued to show signs of weakness, market analysts said.

Concerns about sluggish economic growth in the US grew after the country's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published a weaker-than-expected US jobs report on Friday. US employers added 142,000 jobs in August, according to the report.

Oil market analysts were expecting the report to show a much larger growth of 161,000 additional US jobs, according to SPI Asset Management’s managing partner Stephen Innes.

This news has raised demand growth concerns in the US and put downward pressure on Brent’s price. “Demand weakness and a soft oil balance in 2025 are still clearly a concern,” two analysts from ING Bank said.

By Tuhin Roy and Aparupa Mazumder

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