Bunker benchmarks in Americas ports have increased with Brent, and Cristobal's VLSFO is trading at a premium over Balboa.

Changes on the day to 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT) today:

• VLSFO prices up in New York ($40/mt), Los Angeles ($39/mt), Houston ($35/mt), Balboa and Zona Comun ($5/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Houston ($44/mt), New York ($43/mt), Balboa ($39/mt) and Los Angeles ($30/mt)
• HSFO prices up in New York ($39/mt), Los Angeles ($32/mt), Houston ($30/mt) and Balboa ($14/mt)

Bunker fuel prices across the Americas have made significant gains in the past day, driven by Brent crude climbing more than $4/bbl. However, Balboa’s VLSFO price has only seen a marginal increase, as a lower-priced 50-150 mt stem offset Brent’s rise.

Cristobal’s VLSFO price surged with Brent and is now trading at a $32/mt premium over Balboa, up from parity yesterday.

New York’s Hi5 spread remains below $30/mt, its narrowest since January. This is a steep decline from April’s peak of $141/mt, according to ENGINE data.

Meanwhile, dockworkers at 36 ports across the US East and Gulf Coasts initiated their first major strike in nearly 50 years on Tuesday, raising concerns about potential supply chain disruptions.

While the strike directly affects container and cargo operations, sources warn that bunkering services may also face indirect delays if barge movements are hindered.

Stone Oil’s chief operating officer Anthony Odak told ENGINE, “It’s been just over 24 hours, and we haven’t seen an impact on port reserves yet, but we’re anticipating disruption.”

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has moved $4.69/bbl higher on the day, to trade at $75.54/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Brent’s price surpassed $75/bbl on oil supply disruption fears, following reports that Iran launched over 180 ballistic missiles towards Israel on Tuesday.

In a significant escalation of tensions in the Middle East, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Tehran is now directly involved in the regional conflict, putting the second-largest OPEC producer’s production capabilities under direct threat.

“Crude oil prices surged higher after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

The attack comes in retaliation to Israel’s military actions in Beirut last week, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other prominent leaders of the Iran-aligned militant group.

Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to strike back against yesterday’s attack, sparking further tensions in the wider Middle Eastern region.

“Attention is now fully on how Israel will respond to this latest attack,” two analysts from ING Bank remarked. “The more Iran gets directly involved in this conflict the greater the risk of oil supply disruptions,” they added.

Downward pressure:

Brent’s price gains were marginally capped by concerns about production hikes from the OPEC+ members.

“The [oil] market was spooked by reports that Saudi Arabia is willing to forge ahead with production hikes in December,” Hynes said.

OPEC+ will hold its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting later today. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which is expected to gradually start unwinding production cuts from 1 December, “is not expected to recommend any changes to production policy,” VANDA Insights’ founder and analyst Vandana Hari said.

Demand growth concerns coming in from China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, have also put some downward pressure on Brent.

China’s latest economic stimulus measures may not be enough to sustain economic growth in the country, market analysts said.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee and Aparupa Mazumder

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