Bunker fuel prices dipped in Ecuador on Thursday, but market participants expect them to move higher in the coming days as a result of tight supplies due to maintenance at the 45,000 b/d La Libertad refinery, market sources said Thursday.
Petroecuador's second-largest refinery is operating at 45% of capacity because of a planned two-week turnaround at one of its three distillation plants that began Sunday and is expected to be completed July 31, company sources said Wednesday.
"There is a congestion of barges at the port of La Libertad waiting to load the product as soon as the refinery starts operating at normal rates," a larger Ecuadorean physical supplier said.
The refinery is the major fuel oil supplier for the Ecuadorean domestic market.
"We stopped offering because we don't have product," the supplier said. A South American trader seeking product in Ecuador said he received price indications for high sulfur bunker fuel at $645/mt delivered for 400 mt, but he expected that prices will be much higher Friday.
"The product is very limited also because the priority in Ecuador is the power plants, not the bunkers," the trader said.
On Thursday, Platts assessed IFO 380 CST Guayaquil at $644/mt delivered, $1/mt lower than Wednesday, based on price indications and lower prices for Brent crude futures and fuel oil.
