Bio-premiums widen in Singapore

Prices in Rotterdam come down sharply

Singapore

Singapore’s B24-VLSFO UCOME price has dropped by $11/mt in the past week, while its B24-LSMGO UCOME price has shed $4/mt. A $19/mt decline in the underlying ENGINE conventional VLSFO price has contributed to driving down Singapore's B24-VLSFO UCOME price.

The decline in two biofuel benchmarks in Singapore has been less significant compared to Rotterdam. PRIMA Markets assessed the UCOME FOB China benchmark at $970/mt on Friday, an increase of $15/mt over the week, which has prevented bio-bunker prices in Singapore from falling further.

“Offers for UCOME FOB China in bulk were reported in the range of $970-1,000/mt by a range of market players during the midweek session,” PRIMA said. More Chinese biodiesel traders are gradually looking to supply UCOME for bunkering, especially in Singapore, it added. More inflow of Chinese UCOME into Singapore could put further downward pressure on bio-bunker prices in Singapore.

Biofuel price premiums over pure conventional fuels in Singapore are $120/mt for B24-VLSFO UCOME blends and $110/mt for B24-LSMGO UCOME blends. These bio premiums have widened by $6-8/mt on the week.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE price has declined by a sharper $26/mt over the past week, while its B30-LSMGO HBE price has declined more moderately, dropping by $14/mt, nearly half the decrease seen in B30-VLSFO HBE.

PRIMA Market’s palm oil mill effluent methyl ester (POMEME) CIF ARA price has declined by $34/mt to $1,302/mt in the past week. This, coupled with a $23/mt decline in the underlying ENGINE conventional VLSFO price, has dragged the B30-VLSFO HBE price lower.

POMEME-based biofuels are widely popular in Dutch ports because they qualify for advanced biofuel rebates under the Dutch HBE system. PRIMA has assessed HBE A tickets at €8.60/GJ ($9.57/GJ) on Friday, unchanged on the week. This translates to a theoretical rebate of $84/mt for B30-VLSFO HBE sold in Dutch ports. The rebate has remained relatively stable, hovering between $83-85/mt since the beginning of this month, but down from the peak of $95/mt seen in April.

Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO HBE premium over pure VLSFO has narrowed by $3/mt in the past week to $182/mt, while its B30-LSMGO HBE premium over LSMGO has narrowed by $8/mt to $148/mt.

UCOME-based biofuel prices in Rotterdam have also declined in the past week. The B30-VLSFO UCOME price has decreased by $26/mt to $765/mt, while the B30-LSMGO UCOME price has dropped by $14/mt.

A 1,500 mt B30-VLSFO UCOME stem was fixed at $780/mt in Zeebrugge in Belgium on Thursday, a source said. This was almost $22/mt higher than Rotterdam’s B30-VLSFO UCOME benchmark assessed by ENGINE-PRIMA on Thursday.

By Nithin Chandran

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