Bunker fuel benchmarks have moved in mixed directions, and deliveries in Zona Comun have been suspended due to dense fog.

IMAGE: A container ship docked at the Port of Houston at Morgan's Point shot. Getty Images

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

• VLSFO prices up in Houston ($13/mt), Zona Comun ($3/mt), Balboa ($2/mt), and down in Los Angeles ($4/mt) and New York ($2/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Balboa ($22/mt), Houston ($14/mt), Los Angeles ($9/mt), and down in New York ($5/mt) and Zona Comun ($2/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Balboa ($11/mt), Los Angeles ($5/mt), unchanged in New York, and down in Houston ($2/mt)
  

Balboa’s LSMGO price has seen the sharpest increase for a second consecutive day. The port's HSFO price has risen more than its VLSFO, bringing the Hi5 spread to $59/mt.

HSFO availability has improved in Balboa after a recent resupply of the grade, a source said.

Los Angeles's HSFO price increased next to Balboa and is currently trading at premiums of $6/mt to New York and $30/mt to Houston.

The implementation deadline for new tariffs has been pushed to 1 August from 9 July, excluding China, which is still subject to the initial timeline.

Fourteen countries have received official notifications outlining the revised tariff levels set to take effect next month.

Lars Jensen, chief executive of Vespucci Maritime, said, "The US trade war caused North American imports to decline by 9.4% and exports by 8.1%. The impact was even more severe on the Pacific, where loaded imports and exports fell by 15% and 16%, respectively."

Bunker operations in Argentina’s Zona Comun have been suspended due to heavy fog, and prolonged delays are expected at the anchorage, a source said.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract gained $0.83/bbl on the day, to trade at $69.59/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

A recent Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea has added upward pressure on Brent futures.

Yemen-based Houthi militants carried out their first assault on a commercial vessel in nearly six months, according to the United States Naval Institute (USNI). The Magic Seas, a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier en route from Zhuhai, China, to the Suez Canal, was targeted on 6 July off the coast of Hodeidah, Yemen. 

“Increased attacks on vessels passing through the Red Sea by the Houthis in Yemen provided further support to the market yesterday,” analysts at ING Bank noted.

Oil prices are also being supported by a tightening middle distillates market.

“The [global] middle distillate market continues to show increasing signs of tightness,” ING Bank analysts commented.

“Distillate inventories are critically low, causing a diesel shortage… Globally, distillate supplies remain tight, with Europe and Asia affected by refinery constraints, reduced Russian exports, and rising demand,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, added.

Downward pressure:

US President Donald Trump informed trade partners on Monday that significantly higher US tariffs would take effect from 1 August, though he later clarified the deadline was “not 100% firm,” according to Reuters.

The announcement has triggered uncertainty across financial markets and raised concerns about potential negative impacts on the global economy and oil demand, putting some downward pressure on Brent futures.

While oil prices have largely shrugged off a larger-than-expected OPEC supply increase scheduled for August, “the spectre of another 548kb/d [548,000 b/d] hike in September would raise the risk of inventories beginning to build as seasonal demand wanes,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Tuhin Roy

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