The Bunker Review was contributed by Marine Bunker Exchange
MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, 180 HSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) increased on Mar. 12:
380 HSFO - USD/MT 422.21 (+3.14)
180 HSFO - USD/MT 470.364 (+4.15)
MGO - USD/MT 641.79(+3.43)
Meantime, world oil indexes demonstrated slight irregular changes on Mar. 12 as ongoing political and economic crisis in OPEC-member Venezuela restricts supply
Brent for May settlement increased by $0.09 to $66.67 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery rose by $0.08 to $56.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Brent benchmark traded at the premium of 9.80 to WTI. Gasoil for April delivery declined by $3.00.
Today indexes rise, pushed up by ongoing supply cuts from producer cartel OPEC and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela
Venezuela's opposition-run congress on Monday declared a state of alarm over a five-day power blackout that has crippled the country's oil exports and left millions of citizens scrambling to find food and water. At the same time the United States is preparing to impose additional Venezuela-related sanctions against financial institutions in the coming days. Washington was also preparing to withdraw more U.S. visas from Venezuelans with close ties to President Nicolas Maduro. Comments came as Venezuela ordered American diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours.
Saudi Arabia is planning to cut its crude oil exports in April to below 7 million barrels per day (bpd) despite very strong demand from international waterborne customers at more than 7.6 million bpd. At the same time the country will keep its output well below 10 million bpd. That was cited as supporting fuel prices. March’s oil exports will also be below 7 million bpd.
According to the American Petroleum Institute (API) commercial crude oil inventories in the US for the last week, declined by 2.6 million barrels after rising by 7.29 million barrels a week earlier.
OPEC warned Wall Street banks and big investors, that if Washington passes legislation that would allow the U.S. government to sue the cartel, the first victim will be shale. If the so-called NOPEC bill becomes law, the cartel would stop working and therefore every member would raise production to maximum capacity, causing a crash in oil prices. U.S. politicians have tried several times since 2000 to pass the NOPEC bill, but the White House opposed it -- both George W. Bush and Barack Obama threatened to use their veto. The risk for OPEC is that Donald Trump may break with his predecessors.
In other news, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Mar.12 that U.S. crude oil production is expected to average about 12.30 million bpd in 2019, up from an average of around 11 million bpd in 2018. At the same time EIA cut its 2019 world oil demand growth forecast by 40,000 barrels per day to 1.45 million bpd (for 2020 - by 20,000 bpd to 1.46 million bpd).
The market expects the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) to report that U.S. crude oil inventories grew by 2.9 million barrels for the week to March 8 versus the previous week's build of 7.1 million, in official data due at 10:30 AM ET on Wednesday.
We expect bunker prices to demonstrate slight irregular changes today: USD 1-3 up for IFO, USD 1-3 down for MGO.