Fuel prices have largely followed Brent’s downward movement, and demand in Los Angeles is expected to ease with fewer vessels anticipated.

IMAGE: A tugboat at the Houston harbor. Getty Images

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

• VLSFO prices down in Zona Comun ($29/mt), Houston ($7/mt), Los Angeles ($4/mt), New York ($3/mt) and Balboa ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Balboa ($13/mt), and down in Houston ($20/mt), Zona Comun ($10/mt), Los Angeles ($6/mt) and New York ($4/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Balboa ($9/mt), and down in Houston ($7/mt), New York and Los Angeles ($3/mt)

Balboa's HSFO price benchmark has increased, while the port's VLSFO price has plunged, narrowing the port's Hi5 spread to $54/mt today.

Bunker fuel demand has remained steady in Panama, and fuel availability has improved at the port. The port has recorded higher demand for VLSFO over the past week, which can be supplied within lead times of 3–4 days.

HSFO and LSMGO fuel stocks have also been reported healthy at Balboa and Cristobal, where suppliers are typically asking for the same lead times as for VLSFO.

In Los Angeles, demand has remained weak, and the West Coast has been receiving fewer enquiries than the East Coast, a bunker trader tells ENGINE.

Port officials have confirmed that fewer container ships are expected at the port over the next two weeks, and with fewer vessels coming in, bunkering may record a drop.

Zona Comun's VLSFO price has fallen by the highest margin in the past session. It is currently at discounts of $13/mt to Rio Grande and $18/mt to Paranagua in Brazil.

Weather conditions have improved at the anchorage location, and bunkering operations are currently underway.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has lost $0.16/bbl on the day, to trade at $67.87/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

Brent crude’s price has continued to gain on the back of supply-side concerns after Ukraine struck Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga last week, the latest in a series of attacks on energy infrastructure.

The drones allegedly hit Russia’s biggest nuclear power plant and started a huge fire at the port’s fuel export terminal, Reuters reports.

“Ukraine has attacked eight Russian refineries so far this month, raising concerns of fuel market tightness,” said ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes.

Besides, oil market jitters grow as US President Donald Trump renewed threats of tougher sanctions on Russia if it fails to reach a ceasefire deal soon.

“Trump said there needs to be more clarity within roughly two weeks,” remarked two analysts from ING Bank.

Downward pressure:

Money managers and hedge funds have reduced their net-long bets on ICE Brent futures for the third consecutive week to 19 August.

The decline in net-long positions comes as the oil market braces for the US-imposed 25% secondary tariffs on India’s purchases of Russian oil, set to take effect tomorrow.

Speculators sold a little short of 24,000 lots as of last Tuesday, decreasing net-long positions in Brent futures to about 182,000 lots, according to futures and options data from ICE Futures Europe.

A pullback in net-long positions usually weighs on prices, while an increase in such bets tends to provide support.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Aparupa Mazumder

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