Access to clean maritime fuels is a top priority for the decarbonisation of the shipping sector. The Draghi report on the “Future of European Competitiveness” identifies shipping as one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise, requiring around €40 billion

Northwest Europe

Prompt supply remains strained in the ARA hub, a trader told ENGINE. Lead times for HSFO and LSMGO are 9-10 days, while VLSFO requires around 5-6 days.

The ARA's independently held fuel oil stocks have declined by 7% in July

Europe's ports are failing to tackle toxic air pollution, a new study looking at major European ports shows. The study carried out by DNV, on behalf of T&E, shows that to date just 20% of the EU's required electric shore

Crude Oil Price Movements

In June, the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) value increased by $6.11 month-on-month (m-o-m), to average $69.73/b. The ICE Brent front-month contract increased by $5.79, m-o-m, to average $69.80/b, while the NYMEX WTI front-month contract increased by $6.39,

Highlights

• World oil demand growth is forecast to increase by 700 kb/d in 2025, its lowest rate since 2009, with the exception of the 2020 Covid year. Annual growth eased from 1.1 mb/d in 1Q25 to just 550 kb/d in 2Q25,

Clean

LR2

LR2 freight in the MEG this week ticked down modestly. The TC1 75kt MEG/Japan index dropped 8.61 points to WS110.83. A TC20 90kt MEG/UK-Continent trip also went from $3.57 million to $3.41 million. West of Suez, Mediterranean/East LR2’s held relatively

OPEC+ surprises with larger-than-expected supply hike
The oil market has had a volatile month due to developments in the Middle East. ICE Brent briefly traded above US$80/bbl following US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The move, which followed Israeli strikes

North America

Bunker fuel demand has dropped in Houston this week, while availability has improved.

“Avails are honestly looking much better than in the past few weeks,” a source said.

Both VLSFO and HSFO can be delivered within lead times of 3-5 days,

OPEC+ goes with another large supply hike

Despite OPEC+ originally announcing three larger-than-expected supply hikes this year (the latest being a 411k b/d increase for July), which have essentially cemented the shift in the group's output policy, oil prices have held

At the end of the 28th week, the global bunker indices published by MABUX continued their moderate growth amid signs of relative market stabilization. The 380 HSFO index increased by USD 1.65, rising from USD 467.17/MT to USD 468.82/MT, although