ENGINE: Americas Bunker Fuel Availability Outlook (23 Jan 2025)

The following article regarding bunker fuel availability in the Americas region has been provided by online marine fuel procurement platform ENGINE for post on Singapore bunkering publication Manifold Times:

Bunker benchmarks in key Americas ports have moved in mixed directions, and vessel traffic has resumed in the Houston Ship Channel.

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

• VLSFO prices up in Houston ($12/mt), unchanged in Zona Comun, and down in Balboa ($8/mt), New York ($3/mt) and Los Angeles ($2/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Houston ($2/mt), and down in Balboa ($3/mt), Los Angeles and New York ($2/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Balboa ($1/mt), unchanged in Houston, and down in New York ($2/mt) and Los Angeles ($1/mt)

Houston’s VLSFO price has shot up in the past day, while HSFO has remained broadly stable. The diverging price moves have widened the port’s Hi5 spread by $12/mt since yesterday to $102/mt now.

Bunker fuel availability in Houston is tight across all grades. High wind gusts and an Arctic Front has caused major delays in barge operations in the port. Suppliers require lead times of at least seven days for prompt deliveries.

Rough weather conditions forced the Houston Ship Channel shut earlier this week. Barge traffic has resumed this morning, and the situation will likely improve tomorrow.

Sailing has resumed in Corpus Christi and Texas City this morning. Pilots in Houston are “slowly starting operations,” a source says. Sabine Pass has yet to become operational.

Prompt availability is tight across all fuel grades in the Panamanian ports of Balboa and Cristobal. Suppliers require lead times of 8-9 days to secure stems, according to another source.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has shed $0.23/bbl on the day, to trade at $78.84/bbl at 07.00 CST (13.00 GMT).

Upward pressure:

A set of stringent sanctions imposed by the US against Russia’s oil industry has continued to lend some support to Brent futures.

The recently departed Joe Biden’s administration announced sweeping sanctions against Russia’s energy sector, targeting oil companies, tankers, insurers, traders, etc.

“Crude oil prices continued their volatile performance as traders try to assess the fallout from recent US actions on Russia,” ANZ Bank senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

On the demand front, cold weather in the northern hemisphere has boosted heating oil demand.

“Oil prices have had a strong start to the year on the back of stricter US sanctions against the Russian energy sector and colder weather supporting demand in parts of the Northern Hemisphere,” ING Bank’s head of commodities strategy Warren Patterson commented.

Downward pressure:

Brent’s price has declined as uncertainties over US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have weighed on global financial markets. Trump has warned of imposing 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico from 1 February.

Additionally, some demand growth concerns resurfaced in the global oil market after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported an increase of 1 million bbls in US crude oil stocks for the week ending 17 January.

“The API reporting another weekly rise in crude and fuel stocks, also weighed on [oil] prices,” analysts from Saxo Bank said.

Crude oil prices are poised to move lower this year due to additional output from the US, with more drilling in the Trump 2.0 era, market analysts have projected.

Oil futures decreased, “with traders recalibrating their expectations for crude supplies following President Donald Trump’s pledge to amplify the US’s already record-high crude output,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said.

By Aparupa Mazumder

Photo credit and source: ENGINE
Published: 24 January, 2025