North America
Prompt VLSFO and LSMGO has been tight with some suppliers in Houston this week, pushing their earliest delivery dates further ahead to 4-5 days. One supplier’s earliest delivery date for LSMGO is six days out.
Tight gasoil supply on the US East Coast continues to prop up New York’s LSMGO price, which still hovers well over $100/mt above levels in Houston and Balboa.
A barge operator on the East Coast hiked fuel surcharges to 72% from 1 June, following a previous increase to 51% from 1 April. This means that 72% of the cost of fuel is now added on top to cover barging costs in New York, Philadelphia and other ports covered by the operator.
VLSFO availability looks tight in Los Angeles and Long Beach for the rest of the month, a source says. There are some openings, but availability is patchy and it is hard to estimate when the earliest delivery date is.
HSFO is currently unavailable with one supplier in Los Angeles. It can be sourced but delivery dates beyond 24 June now look more likely, a source says.
Fuel oil supply has been under pressure on the US West Coast. A 10-week strike of 500 steelworkers at the 257,000 b/d capacity Richmond refinery had left refinery managers and contract workers to run operations until the strike ended and steelworkers gradually started returning to the refinery this month.
The refinery is scheduled for a crude distillation unit (CDU) maintenance between 15 June and 31 July, according to Wood Mackenzie, which could continue to take some production capacity out of the market and keep supply tight.
Another refinery in the region, the 166,000 b/d capacity refinery in Torrance has been undergoing a CDU maintenance since 18 May, which is scheduled to end on 2 July.
Latin America
VLSFO has tightened considerably in Panama, pushing Cristobal and Balboa’s prices far above Houston’s. A supplier in Panama has limited availability for deliveries of all grades, even into the second half of June. Its earliest delivery date is 11 days out. Another can deliver VLSFO with seven days of lead time in Balboa and five days in Cristobal.
Prompt VLSFO availability has also become tighter in Zona Comun. A supplier there needs seven days of lead time. Another supplier can deliver from six days onwards.
VLSFO is tight for prompt dates in Santos, with the earliest delivery around eight days out.
Source: ENGINE (https://engine.online/)