Americas Market Update 29 Sep 2025

Fuel prices have mostly declined, and marine warnings remain in place for the Atlantic and Southwest North Atlantic amid ongoing hurricane activity.

IMAGE: The Statue of Liberty seen from New York Harbor. Getty Images

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

• VLSFO prices up in New York ($6/mt), and down in Los Angeles ($12/mt), Zona Comun ($6/mt), Balboa ($4/mt) and Houston ($1/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in New York ($13/mt), and down in Los Angeles ($23/mt), Balboa, Zona Comun ($19/mt), and Houston ($1/mt)
• HSFO prices down in Balboa ($16/mt), New York ($13/mt), Los Angeles ($3/mt) and Houston ($1/mt)

The port of New York has recorded the largest price gains for both VLSFO and LSMGO in the past session.

New York's VLSFO price is currently at a $28/mt premium to Houston, up from the $7/mt premium it held a month ago on 29 August.

Meanwhile, Houston, which has reported weakening demand, has seen little change in its prices across all three fuel grades.

At East Coast ports, both HSFO and VLSFO remain very tight, and extended lead times are expected, a bunker trader has told ENGINE.

Further South, Balboa's HSFO price has registered the sharpest decline, while the port's VLSFO has dropped only by $4/mt, widening the Hi5 spread to $37/mt from $25/mt on Friday.

Hurricane Humberto is active in the Atlantic, for which the National Hurricane Center has issued advisories. Tropical Storm Imelda is also being monitored, and marine warnings remain in effect for the Atlantic and Southwest North Atlantic.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has made a $0.74/bbl loss from Friday, trading at $68.91/bbl at 08.00 CDT (13.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Brent's price reached a multi-week high on Friday after the renewed conflict between Russia and Ukraine added upward pressure.

US President Donald Trump has urged Turkey to suspend its Russian oil imports, according to the Atlantic Council.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said OPEC+’s actual supply boost in October will likely fall short of its target in its September report, noting that members, including Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait and Kazakhstan, are pumping a combined 1.1 million b/d above their quotas.

The IEA also cited tanker-tracking data showing that most of OPEC’s additional September volumes were absorbed by regional refineries and power generation rather than exported.

If sustained, this trend could point to tighter export availability from Saudi and other Middle East OPEC members in the coming months.

Downward pressure:

The OPEC+ bloc is expected to raise output by at least 137,000 b/d in November at its online meeting on 5 October, three sources have told Reuters.

Iraq’s Kurdistan region has resumed crude exports to Turkey after more than two years, Turkish oil minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a social media post. The halt had previously curbed around 400,000 b/d of supply from northern Iraq and the restart adds to concerns of a supply glut.

The agreement will initially allow 190,000 b/d of crude oil to flow to Turkey's Ceyhan port, Iraq's oil minister, Hayyan Abdul Ghani told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw.

Oil producers including Norway’s DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum and HKN Energy have confirmed plans to restart output, but said full resumption will depend on further government guidance.

DNO will resume 38,000 b/d from its Tawke field. Gulf Keystone will restart production from its Shaikan field but has not yet confirmed the capacity.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Konica Bhatt

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