Hormuz Is Turning Shipping’s Fuel Bill Into a Supply Crisis
Offers Another 17 Million SPR Barrels as Fuel Crisis Deepens Cyril Widdershoven is a senior maritime, energy, and geopolitical analyst and Senior Advisor at Blue Water Strategy, specialising in the strategic intersection of shipping, ports,… The Hormuz crisis is not only hitting crude oil and gas, but also container shipping.
It is also tightening its grip on global shipping through the fuel tanks of vessels carrying world trade.
Disrupted exports, constrained refinery supplies, and increasingly unreliable deliveries are clearly at present pushing the bunker market into a dangerous position.
Fuel remains available internationally, but securing the right grade at the right port within a commercially workable window is becoming harder.
The consequences will be severe, especially for shipowners, as it extends beyond expensive bunkers.
Delayed deliveries and uncertain replenishment are not only threatening voyage schedules but also working capital and the profitability of entire trading routes.
On October 16, Vitol estimated that high-sulfur fuel oil flows through Hormuz, including Iranian supplies, remained at least 800,000 tons per month below February levels.
At the same time, the successful attacks by Ukraine on Russian refineries have removed an additional estimated million tons monthly.
Meanwhile, North Asian refiners were drawing more than a million tons of HSFO for November processing.
Global shipping is therefore competing for a constrained product pool.
This is a growing reality, even though low-sulfur supplies have received some support from increased exports from China and Nigeria.
Related: German Power Supply Startups Exit Market as Wholesale Prices Soar These pressures are now converging on a market that depends as much on reliable distribution as on aggregate production.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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