East of Suez Market Update 6 Nov 2025

Prices in East of Suez ports have moved down, and availability across all grades is good in Zhoushan.

IMAGE: Ships and cranes at the port of Dalian, China. Getty Images

Changes on the day to 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT) today:

• VLSFO prices down in Fujairah ($4/mt), Zhoushan ($3/mt) and Singapore ($2/mt)
• LSMGO prices down in Singapore ($7/mt), Fujairah ($5/mt) and Zhoushan ($4/mt)
• HSFO prices down in Zhoushan ($4/mt), Singapore and Fujairah ($2/mt)
• B30-VLSFO at a $234/mt premium over VLSFO in Singapore
• B30-VLSFO at a $260/mt premium over VLSFO in Fujairah

VLSFO prices across the three major Asian bunker hubs have remained largely stable for the third straight day. Zhoushan’s VLSFO holds premiums of $27/mt over Fujairah and $18/mt over Singapore.

Bunker demand in Zhoushan remains subdued, with most suppliers recommending lead times of 5–8 days for VLSFO — unchanged from the previous week. HSFO lead times are similar at 5–8 days, while LSMGO lead times have slightly increased to 3–6 days from 2–4 days last week.

Fuel availability continues to differ across northern China. Dalian and Qingdao maintain sufficient VLSFO and LSMGO stocks, though HSFO remains tight in Qingdao. In Shanghai, both VLSFO and HSFO supplies are limited, while LSMGO remains relatively steady.

Further south, availability is mixed: Fuzhou faces shortages of both VLSFO and LSMGO, whereas Xiamen has adequate VLSFO but constrained LSMGO supply.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has declined by $0.33/bbl on the day, to trade at $64.23/bbl at 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Brent’s price has felt some upward pressure, following the recent western sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

According to ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist, Daniel Hynes, Russia’s seaborne crude shipments decreased the most since January 2024, with four-week average volumes at 3.58 million b/d for the period ending 2 November.

Lukoil and Rosneft are Russia’s two biggest oil producers. The US and UK sanctions have helped ease some market concerns about a potential supply glut anticipated in 2026.

“There are clear and obvious risks [to supply] in the form of potential disruptions to Russian oil flows," remarked ING Bank’s head of commodities strategy, Warren Patterson.

Downward pressure:

Brent crude’s price has moved lower after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a big build in crude stocks.

Commercial US crude oil inventories have gained by 5.2 million bbls to 421 million bbls for the week ending 31 October, according to data from the EIA.

Yesterday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a larger build of 6.5 million bbls for the same week.

“Oil prices settled lower yesterday with a large increase in US crude oil inventories,” Patterson said.

A build in US crude stocks typically indicates lower demand for oil and can put some downward pressure on Brent's price.  

By Tuhin Roy and Aparupa Mazumder

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