• Supply tight in New York and US West Coast
• US fuel oil stocks build on refinery ramp-up
• Argentinian refinery maintenance ends
Availability is tight for all fuel grades in New York. A supplier is out of VLSFO for dates running to mid-April. Another supplier has limited product to offer until late April.
HSFO380
The US West Coast’s Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco are similarly tight on availability. A supplier in Long Beach is only able to offer for late April or early May delivery.
A supplier has been unable to offer HSFO380 prompt in New Orleans, while another can deliver prompt while facing higher resupply costs and pressure to raise prices.
US residual fuel oil inventories have recovered to six-month highs amid a major increase in overall refinery production through March, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
US oil increased
Significant stock builds on the Gulf Coast and East Coast lifted the country’s total. West Coast inventories were drawn below 4 million bbls for the first time since January 2020.
President Joe Biden urged US oil producers to increase output to cool fuel prices and plug supply gaps from embargoed Russian barrels. Total refinery utilisation kept above 92% in the second half of March, producing more fuel oil as a by-product.
Fuel oil supplied out of US storage nearly doubled on the week, coming up from a seven-week low. These volumes are distributed out to bunker suppliers, blenders and bulk terminals, for further refining and for power generation.
VLSFO and LSMGO
Two suppliers in Panama have tight VLSFO availability for dates around a week ahead, while better availability from two weeks ahead and further on. Prompt deliveries of all grades are still possible in Panama, but suppliers have busy barging schedules on certain dates.
VLSFO output from the Pan American Energy refinery in Argentina’s Campana has normalised after an extended maintenance, ship agent Antares says. The maintenance was originally scheduled to end in mid-March, but was pushed back by around a week for a gradual ramp up until late March.
Several bunker barges started loading product from the refinery last week, Antares says. Prompt VLSFO and LSMGO is available in Zona Comun, with one supplier’s earliest delivery date two days out.
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Source: ENGINE
