Americas Market Update 18 Dec

Fuel prices have mostly declined, and dense fog has resulted in the halting of inbound and outbound traffic at the port of Houston.

IMAGE: A ship being loaded with fuel along the Buffalo Bayou, just east of downtown Houston. Getty Images.

Changes on the day to 07.00 CST (13.00 GMT) today:

• VLSFO prices down in New York ($4/mt), Zona Comun ($3/mt), Houston, Los Angeles and Balboa ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices down in Balboa ($14/mt), New York ($13/mt), Zona Comun ($9/mt), Los Angeles and Houston ($2/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Houston ($5/mt), unchanged in New York, and down in Balboa ($29/mt) and Los Angeles ($1/mt)

Balboa’s HSFO price has declined by the highest margin among all ports, after a lower-priced 500–1500 mt HSFO stem, fixed at $344/mt, put downward pressure on the benchmark.

The port’s LSMGO price has also recorded the steepest decline within the grade. This may have been influenced by a lower-priced 150–500 mt LSMGO stem, booked at $644/mt.

At the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, VLSFO and LSMGO can be delivered within 5–7 days this week. LSMGO is available from most suppliers, in around 4-6 days, a source said.

The port of Houston has been impacted by the ongoing fog season along the US Gulf Coast.

The port was closed to inbound traffic on the afternoon of Wednesday and remained open only to outbound traffic, before being fully closed to all vessel movements at 8:04 pm due to dense fog, a shipping agent informed.

Pilots intend to begin outbound sailings from Houston by 10:00am today (18 December), provided weather conditions improve.

In Argentina, Zona Comun’s VLSFO and LSMGO prices have both declined over the past day. Availability for the grades remains normal, with lead times of 5–7 days.

A supplier has returned to service at the anchorage after recently halting operations following a refinery fire, which had previously resulted in limited stocks and long wait times.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has lost $0.13/bbl on the day, to trade at $59.77/bbl at 07.00 CST (13.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Brent crude’s price has felt some upward pressure after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest crude stocks report.

Commercial US crude oil inventories have decreased by 1.3 million bbls to 424.4 million bbls for the week ending 12 December, according to data from the EIA.

The draw was primarily driven by “stronger exports over the week, with crude oil exports increasing 655k b/d WoW [655,000 b/d week-on-week] to 4.66m b/d [4.66 million b/d],” remarked two analysts from ING Bank.

A drop in US crude stocks usually signals stronger demand and can offer some support to Brent’s price.

Downward pressure:

Oil market participants are closely monitoring developments in Ukraine peace talks, which could bring an end to the four-year conflict with Russia.

According to media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that the US-mediated peace talks were in progress.

Market analysts believe that a deal could potentially ease energy-related sanctions on Moscow, returning additional barrels to a global market already facing concerns of a supply glut.

“While Russian seaborne oil exports have held up well since the imposition of sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, this oil is still struggling to find buyers,” ING Bank’s analysts said.

“The result is a growing volume of Russian oil at sea,” they further added.  

By Gautamee Hazarika and Aparupa Mazumder

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