Bunker fuel benchmarks have shown mixed movements, and no tropical cyclone activity is forecast over the next seven days.

IMAGE: Aerial view of Houston Ship Channel. Port Houston

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

• VLSFO prices down in Los Angeles ($4/mt), New York ($3/mt), Zona Comun ($2/mt), Balboa and Houston ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Balboa ($3/mt), and down in Los Angeles ($7/mt), Zona Comun ($6/mt), New York ($5/mt) and Houston ($3/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Balboa ($5/mt), New York ($4/mt), Houston ($3/mt), and down in Los Angeles ($3/mt)

Balboa's HSFO price has risen the most among key Americas ports, while its VLSFO price has declined, narrowing the port's Hi5 spread to $50/mt.

Panama's bunker market has improved, and demand has picked up compared to previous weeks.

Availability is decent in the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, a source confirmed. VLSFO and LSMGO can be delivered with lead times ranging between 4-5 days, and HSFO in four days.

Amidst the hurricane season, the region is in the clear after weeks of rough weather.

The National Hurricane Center has said that no tropical cyclone activity is expected over the next seven days.

Los Angeles's LSMGO price recorded the sharpest decline. However, it is still trading at premiums of $32/mt to New York and $65/mt to Houston.

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have also recorded a decrease in overall bunker demand this week.

“Fuel availability is a tad bit tight compared to east coast, and suppliers require at least seven days to make deliveries,” a source said.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract lost $0.08/bbl on the day, to trade at $69.41/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

Rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea have raised concerns of supply disruptions in the oil market.

US President Donald Trump said he has a “major statement to make on Russia on Monday” in a telephonic interview with media network NBC, without elaborating on his planned course of action.

“This could leave the market nervous over the potential for further sanctions on Russia,” ING’s head of commodity strategy, Warren Patterson said. Additional US sanctions on Russian crude could tighten the global oil market further and add upward pressure on prices.

Downward pressure:

OPEC members could be mulling a pause in further supply hikes from October, Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ said.

“However, the market took the decision to subsequently pause any further increases as a sign that the market can’t handle any more oil amid weakening demand,” he explained.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 7.1 million barrels surge in US crude stockpiles for the week ending 4 July, adding further downward pressure on Brent’s price.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Konica Bhatt

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