West-to-east VLSFO spread holds wide; Houston and Rotterdam anchor the cheap end of the board

Houston is the cheapest VLSFO on the board at $679.50/mt, with Rotterdam next at $663.00/mt; Singapore sits at $784.50/mt, a $121.50/mt premium to Rotterdam and $105.00/mt over Houston. On a 1,200-tonne stem, the Houston–Singapore gap is worth $126,000 on paper; the Rotterdam–Singapore gap $145,800. One day of deviation to take the arbitrage — say $15,000 in mid-size hire plus the bunkers burned reaching the cheaper port — takes a meaningful bite out of that headline figure before a single tonne is lifted.

MGO shows the widest gaps of the day: Singapore at $1,146.00/mt against Los Angeles at $1,402.50/mt, a $256.50/mt spread worth $307,800 on a 1,200-tonne stem. HSFO runs from Houston at $468.50/mt to Long Beach at $729.00/mt, a $260.50/mt range. Brent is $90.78/bbl, WTI $86.37/bbl, EUA €82.79/tonne.

The market is watching the Strait of Hormuz and narrowing European diesel options this week; the ABS outlook through 2035 and fuel-switch economics for B100, LBM and methanol are also in focus, alongside DNV's Veracity integration for FuelEU pooling. Prices below are as published; no change data was supplied today, so no daily moves are stated.