Fuel prices have shown mixed trends, and bunker demand in Los Angeles has picked up.

IMAGE: Heavy industrial rigs at a shipyard near Houston, Texas. Getty Images

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

• VLSFO prices up in New York ($5/mt) and Houston ($4/mt), and down in Balboa ($18/mt), Los Angeles ($4/mt) and Zona Comun ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Los Angeles ($41/mt), Houston ($4/mt) and Zona Comun ($2/mt), unchanged in Balboa, and down in New York ($3/mt)
  
• HSFO prices up in Los Angeles ($27/mt), Houston, New York ($5/mt) and Balboa ($3/mt)

Los Angeles’ LSMGO price benchmark has moved significantly away from the general market direction, gaining $41/mt in the past session. It now stands at premiums of $66/mt to New York and $119/mt to Houston.

Market demand in Los Angeles has shown an uptick so far this week, a local bunker trader informs ENGINE.

The port’s HSFO price benchmark has also recorded the highest gains across all ports.

All significant ports across the Americas have posted increases in HSFO prices for the second consecutive day.

Over at Zona Comun, the price of VLSFO has remained steady, with market conditions reported as normal, a source says.

Two hurricanes that were active until yesterday have subsided in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, though marine warnings remain in place. Currently, only one tropical storm, Octave, is active, with advisories issued by the hurricane center.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has moved $0.44/bbl lower, trading at $64.40/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Several market experts have suggested that China’s stockpiling of crude oil, both into commercial and strategic storage, amid ongoing US-China trade tensions could help limit severe downside for Brent in the near-term.

“China plans to purchase 140 million barrels for storage between July 2025 and March 2026, according to people familiar with the matter, and will have an additional 200 million barrels of storage capacity ready by the end of 2026,” Amena Bakr, head of Middle East energy and OPEC+ research at Kpler, wrote in a column last month.

Her outlook aligns with recent assessments by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and JPMorgan, both of which project resilient Chinese demand through 2026.

“The world has a lot less spare capacity than previously thought,” said Eric Nuttall, a hedge fund manager specialising in energy, echoing Price Futures Group's senior analyst Phil Flynn’s view that global inventories will remain tight in the near future.

Nuttall added that US shale production has reached its “twilight,” almost in line with Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) September forecast of US crude output at 13.3 million b/d in 2026, slightly below the 2025 projection of 13.4 million b/d.

Downward pressure:

Oil glut fears have managed to push Brent down, even as some market participants have attempted to calm worries ahead of Sunday's OPEC+ meeting.

OPEC+ has selectively dismissed reports of a potential 500,000 b/d output hike, but not denied suggestions of a smaller 137,000 b/d increase in November — possibly hinting that it could still be on the table on Sunday. Kpler’s base case has already factored in this increment, Bakr noted yesterday.

Iraq has also announced plans to raise domestic oil production from 4.4 million b/d to 5.5 million b/d by the end of this year.

In September, the EIA forecast Brent’s price to fall to around $59/bbl in the fourth quarter of 2025 and further to $56/bbl in 2026, largely on the back of higher OPEC+ output.

The agency has also projected global oil inventories to average over 2 million b/d from the third quarter of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Konica Bhatt

Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online