Americas Market Update 13 Jan

Fuel prices have mostly moved in the upward direction, and high wind gusts in New York are expected to delay bunkering operations.

IMAGE: Cranes loading a container ship at a marine terminal in New York. Getty Images.

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

• VLSFO prices up in Balboa ($13/mt), Los Angeles ($12/mt), Houston and Zona Comun ($4/mt), and unchanged in New York
• LSMGO prices up in Zona Comun ($32/mt), Balboa ($16/mt), Houston ($10/mt) and Los Angeles ($7/mt), and down in New York ($2/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Balboa ($21/mt), Los Angeles ($11/mt) and Houston ($3/mt), and down in New York ($5/mt)

Bunker fuel prices have mostly tracked Brent’s upward movement, except in New York, where HSFO and LSMGO prices have dipped, while VLSFO remains unchanged.

New York's VLSFO is currently almost at par with Philadelphia, and at small discounts of $12/mt to Norfolk and $10/mt to Newport in the US East Coast.

The port is currently facing rough weather conditions, with high wind gusts expected at New York Harbor until Friday.

"We are expecting possible delays due to high wind gusts, and suppliers may require standby tugs to make deliveries, if conditions deteriorate further," a trader told ENGINE.

In New York, VLSFO and HSFO are available this week with lead times of 6–8 days, while LSMGO requires shorter lead times of around 2–3 days.

Balboa’s HSFO price has gained the most among the grades in the past day. The port’s VLSFO price has gained by about half that measure, narrowing the port’s Hi5 spread to $54/mt, down from $59/mt yesterday.

Availability at Balboa and Cristobal remains good, with all three grades deliverable within recommended lead times of 4–7 days.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has gained $1.81/bbl on the day to trade at $65.15/bbl at 07.00 CST (13.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Escalating political unrest in Iran has pushed Brent crude’s price close to $65/bbl.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to impose 25% tariff on all imports from countries that are still “doing business” with Iran, amid nationwide protests demanding a change in regime in the Islamic Republic.

“Crude oil prices were steady as the market frets about the potential impact of rising unrest in Iran on oil supplies,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

If imposed, the tariff could strain Washington’s ties with Iran’s trade partners, including major economies such as India, Turkey and China, according to market analysts.

“The possible disruption of almost 2mb/d [2 million b/d] has tempered concerns over a global glut of oil,” Hynes added.

Downward pressure:

Brent’s price has felt some downward pressure following news that Venezuela is expected to resume oil exports soon.

“US President Trump signed an executive order to safeguard the Latin American [Venezuela] country’s oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts from the nation’s creditors,” Hynes said.

Last week, Trump said Venezuela’s interim administration will turn over about 50 million bbls of sanctioned oil, to be sold at the market price.

By Gautamee Hazarika and Aparupa Mazumder

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