Prices in East of Suez ports have moved up, and VLSFO supply is good in several Japanese ports.

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

• VLSFO prices up in Zhoushan ($13/mt), Fujairah ($11/mt) and Singapore ($10/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Zhoushan ($16/mt), Singapore ($15/mt) and Fujairah ($12/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Zhoushan ($16/mt), Singapore and Fujairah ($7/mt)
• B24-VLSFO at a $196/mt premium over VLSFO in Singapore
• B24-VLSFO at a $213/mt premium over VLSFO in Fujairah

VLSFO benchmarks across three key Asian bunker ports have risen within a narrow band of $10–13/mt over the past day, with Zhoushan seeing the sharpest increase. Zhoushan’s VLSFO is now priced at a premium of $18/mt over Fujairah and $7/mt over Singapore.

Supply in Zhoushan remains steady, with most suppliers recommending lead times of 4–7 days. HSFO lead times have slightly widened to 4–7 days (up from 3–5 days last week), while LSMGO lead times have shortened to 2–3 days (down from 4–7 days).

In Japan, Tokyo’s VLSFO remains priced higher than Zhoushan, carrying a premium of $22/mt.

Major ports like Tokyo, Chiba, Yokohama, and Kawasaki maintain robust VLSFO supply. However, prompt availability is limited in Osaka, Kobe, Sakai, and Mizushima, and particularly tight in Nagoya and Yokkaichi.

LSMGO is generally available across Japanese ports, but securing prompt deliveries is challenging in Osaka, Kobe, Sakai, Nagoya, Yokkaichi, and Mizushima. HSFO supply remains steady overall, though quick deliveries are also restricted in these same ports. In Oita, availability of all fuel grades remains tight.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has surged by $2.20/bbl on the day, to trade at $69.03/bbl at 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

Brent crude’s price has reversed the previous day’s losses to gain over $2/bbl as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East resurfaced.

The US government has ordered a partial evacuation of its embassy staff in Iraq due to rising security concerns in the Middle East, Reuters reports.

Besides, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has advised caution to commercial vessels passing through the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and Straits of Hormuz. 

Both news come shortly after Iran threatened to strike US bases in the region if nuclear talks between the two countries fail, according to another Reuters report. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran with attacks if US-Iran nuclear talks don’t yield any positive outcome.

“Expectations of a new US-Iran nuclear [deal] are slowly evaporating. President Trump said he’s less confident about whether he can convince Tehran to agree on shutting down its nuclear program,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes remarked.

Downward pressure:

Rising OPEC+ crude oil output in recent months has put some downward pressure on Brent’s price.

The coalition agreed to collectively increase their supply by 411,000 b/d in July, compared to June’s production levels. It’s leader Saudi Arabia wants to increase oil supply to regain market share, according to market analysts.

With the latest round of output hike, OPEC+ will have increased supply by about 1.38 million b/d in the first four months of the phase out plan, "or 64% of the 2.2mb/d [2.2 million b/d] in voluntary production cuts,” Hynes said.

By Tuhin Roy and Aparupa Mazumder

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