Americas News
Port of Houston Fuel Supply Tight After Weather Delays
Bunker prices for both high-sulfur fuel and marine gas oil (MGO) are up at the Port of Houston after bad weather conditions caused resupply delays, reports Platts.
Two-way traffic at the Houston Ship Channel has reportedly been closed off and on, according to market sources, in particular having closed for more than a day on Wednesday last week due to heavy fog.
"Avails are very tight at present moment, just a glut along with operational issues getting ships in," said one unnamed source.
More than 60 ships were purportedly affected by the Wednesday closure.
"As the [bunker] market has continued to fall, the demand has been getting a bit stronger, which helped to support prices, then the fog came in during the same time, so it was easy to keep support of pricing around same level or slightly higher," said a trader.
Demand for bunkers have remained strong as the U.S. continues to produce vast amounts of shale gas, which in turn has increased demand for tankers to ship it as well as to act as floating storage.
