East of Suez Market Update 29 Jan

Prices in East of Suez ports have moved up, and availability of all grades is good in Hong Kong.

IMAGE: Container cargo freight ship with working crane bridge in shipyard in Singapore. Getty Images

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

• VLSFO prices up in Singapore ($17/mt), Zhoushan ($10/mt) and Fujairah ($6/mt)
• LSMGO prices up in Singapore ($20/mt), Fujairah and Zhoushan ($16/mt)
• HSFO prices up in Singapore ($11/mt), Fujairah and Zhoushan ($6/mt)
• B30-VLSFO prices up in Singapore ($13/mt) and Fujairah ($8/mt)

Singapore’s VLSFO price has increased by $17/mt over the past day, the sharpest rise among the three major Asian bunker ports. Despite this gain, Singapore’s VLSFO remains at a discount of $18/mt to Zhoushan, while trading at a premium of $18/mt over Fujairah.

In Singapore, VLSFO availability has tightened further as terminal loading delays continue to affect several suppliers, pushing recommended lead times to 12-14 days. HSFO supply remains limited, with typical lead times of 9–12 days, broadly unchanged from 8–12 days previously. LSMGO availability has also tightened sharply, with lead times now at 7–9 days, compared with 2–5 days last week.

In Hong Kong, bunker lead times remain steady at around seven days for all fuel grades, largely unchanged from recent weeks.

Bunker supply operations in the port will continue during the Chinese New Year holiday period, although suppliers will apply a holiday surcharge to bookings made during that time, according to notices from several bunker suppliers.

Brent

The front-month ICE Brent contract has gained by $2.04/bbl on the day, to trade at $69.81/bbl at 17.00 SGT (09.00 GMT) today.

Upward pressure:

Brent crude’s price has risen by more than $2/bbl on renewed supply disruption concerns from the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump has warned of possible military action against Iran, as Washington continues its push to end the OPEC producer’s nuclear ambitions, Reuters reported. A US naval group has arrived in the region, the report added.

“Oil markets continue to strengthen amid growing concern over a possible escalation between the US and Iran,” two analysts from ING Bank noted.

The escalation could potentially disrupt supply from the region, market analysts said. Iran produces about 3.2 million b/d of crude oil.

“President Trump threatened another attack on Iran, urging Tehran to negotiate a nuclear deal,” ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said. “This raised the spectre of disruptions to its oil supply,” he added.

Downward pressure:

Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield is expected to reach full production capacity this week, following an unplanned outage due to a fire. This news has capped some of Brent’s gains today.

In the US, the Federal Reserve (Fed) has decided to keep interest rates steady in the range of 3.50% to 3.75%, following three rate cuts in 2025.

The rate decision comes as the US dollar remains under pressure, trading close to a four-year low against major currencies and adding complexity to the Fed’s inflation outlook.

“Oil is the other inflation ghost that will not stay in the basement,” remarked SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes.

By Tuhin Roy and Aparupa Mazumder

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