Bitumen / Asphalt
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Global bitumen and asphalt spot prices are influenced by changing supply and demand fundamentals, VGO and crude prices. Argus is the only provider of global bitumen and asphalt spot prices assessed by a global team of reporters, based on market trade. Spot price coverage includes regional truck, rail and seaborne prices.
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Baghdad clamps down on 'illegal' oil smuggling to Iran
Baghdad clamps down on 'illegal' oil smuggling to Iran
Singapore, 20 November (Argus) — The Iraqi government is clamping down on the "illegal smuggling" of crude, bitumen and other oil products to Iran. Iraq's foreign affairs ministry has asked Iranian authorities to stop trucks carrying "oil, black oil and other petroleum products" from entering Iran through border crossing areas in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region unless the exports are licensed by state-owned Somo, according to a 12 November letter seen by Argus . The movement of bitumen and other oil products across the Haj Omran-Piranshahr border point have already halted because of the new directive, market sources said. "The Parwiz Khan and Bashmakh borders are still exporting bitumen, but if this letter is implemented fully, Iraq's bitumen exports will be disrupted since none of these producers possess a Somo licence," an Iraqi bitumen market participant told Argus . The restrictions are expected to remain in place until further notice, although some market participants expressed doubt about how effective the crackdown will be. The directive will also have a bearing on crude producers in Iraq's Kurdistan region, which have been relying on local sales since a key export pipeline to Turkey was shut last year. Foreign operators operating in Kurdistan said they have been trucking crude to local refineries since the closure, but Argus understands that Kurdish crude is also being smuggled — by truck — across the border to Turkey, Iran and Syria. Iraq's oil ministry said this month that it has secured a commitment from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to scale back its crude production to "agreed levels" to help bring overall Iraqi output back below its Opec+ production target. Tight supply Participants in Iraq's bitumen market note that the smuggling directive coincides with already tight domestic supply, caused by limited availability of vacuum residue feedstock. Not only are higher margins encouraging Iraqi refineries to blend vacuum residue to produce high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), but a prolonged roadblock between Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, which started before the Kurdish election in October, has made it difficult for bitumen producers to transport vacuum residue from refineries to their production units, market participants said. Manifest charges were decreased to $10/t last week to encourage bitumen producers to transport vacuum residue, down from $35/t when the roadblock started. But most Kurdish suppliers have refrained from offering fresh cargoes for export in the past three weeks. A few Indian importers told Argus that it has become increasingly difficult to secure Iraqi bitumen drums because of a lack of offers. Some bitumen suppliers took to the sidelines in the expectation that export values will increase in line with rising Iranian seaborne prices. The limited availability of vacuum residue has boosted production costs for Iraqi bitumen suppliers. Iraqi drums will be offered higher than $340/t fob Bandar Abbas in the coming days, compared with around $322-325/t last week, producers said. One major southern Iraq-based producer has not been offering drummed cargoes since the end of October as the higher production costs have made export prices less competitive for major consumers like India, market participants said. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Spain's Huelva refinery bitumen output still restricted
Spain's Huelva refinery bitumen output still restricted
London, 14 November (Argus) — Bitumen production and supply from Spain's 220,000 b/d Huelva refinery have been restricted for the past month and there is no sign of a rebound in the near future. Market participants said a change in the refinery's crude slate away from bitumen-rich grades is probably the main reason. But the operator — Abu Dhabi-owned Moeve, formerly known as Cepsa — has not confirmed this. At least three bitumen cargoes have been delivered to Huelva over the past six weeks to help Moeve meet inland customer requirements, starting with the partial delivery in late September of a cargo that was loaded at the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu on the 14,911dwt bitumen tanker The Chief . That was followed on 25 October by the arrival at Huelva of a cargo on board the 8,353dwt Castillo de Pambre, which was loaded at Tarragona, where Moeve operates a joint venture 1.2mn t/yr bitumen plant with Spain's Repsol. The third cargo arrived at Huelva in early November on board the 7,995dwt Baustella , also loaded at Tarragona. Bitumen cargoes have been exported from Huelva during this period, including one shipped from the refinery to Galp's Viana do Castelo terminal in northern Portugal on the 7,500dwt Sheng Hua Wan . The tanker loaded bitumen again at Huelva earlier this week and is due to arrive at Leixoes in Portugal today. But market participants say they still see no improvement in Huelva's overall bitumen production and supply position. While Huelva's crude receipts rose to 170,000 b/d last month from 145,000 b/d in September, according to Argus tracking, they were still well below the 190,000 b/d average in the first 10 months of the year . Meanwhile, Argus analysis shows European refiners ran their second-lightest basket of crudes in October since at least 2015 , limiting output of heavy products such as bitumen and high-sulphur fuel oil. Bitumen supply in the Mediterranean has also been affected by the shutdown of one of two crude distillation units at Motor Oil Hellas' (MOH) 180,000 b/d Corinth refinery since a fire on 17 September. MOH does not expect the repair work to be completed until the third quarter of 2025 . The supply restrictions have failed to prevent a gradual slippage in Mediterranean bitumen values as construction activity and asphalt demand fall ahead of the winter season. By Keyvan Hedvat Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Algerian bitumen importers eye resumed Spain flows
Algerian bitumen importers eye resumed Spain flows
London, 12 November (Argus) — Algerian bitumen importers are getting ready to resume cargo imports from Spain after the Algerian government signalled last week that trade can restart for the first time in more than two years. The government's decision in June 2022 to suspend a friendship and co-operation treaty with Spain, linked to Madrid's public recognition of Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, led to the immediate cancellation of previously agreed bitumen cargo movements from Spain to Algeria. In a notice issued by the Bank of Algeria on 6 November, Algerian firms were told they could resume trade with their Spanish counterparts under the usual transaction rules, and both state-owned and private Algerian bitumen importers say they are now free to discuss deals to buy and bring Spanish cargoes to their facilities for supply into the domestic market. No such deals are understood to have been concluded yet, but private importers into western Algerian import terminals like Ghazaouet, Oran and Arzew are well placed because of their relative proximity to Spanish export terminals at Tarragona, Huelva and Cadiz compared with existing supply sources in Italy and even more so when compared with cargoes shipped from Greece or Turkey. Ship brokers said freight rates for standard 5,000t bitumen tanker cargo movements from Tarragona — site of a 1.2mn t/yr Asesa bitumen refinery held in a 50-50 joint venture by Repsol and Moeve, formerly Cepsa, — to Ghazaouet are around $35/t, compared with around $50/t for the Augusta, Italy, to Ghazaouet route. Spanish and international bitumen trading and supply firms are still examining the Algerian developments and seeking clearance "on all sides", as one said today, before resuming bitumen cargo discussions with their Algerian counterparts. That could mean the actual restart of Spain-Algeria flows takes until early 2025. Demand for now may be hindered by a pre-winter slowdown in Algerian road construction and bitumen-consuming activity as weather conditions gradually worsen. Algerian state-owned Sonatrach, which imports cargoes into a raft of bitumen terminals along the country's Mediterranean coast, is largely dependent on substantial term flows from Sonatrach Raffineria Italiana's (SRI) 170,000 b/d refinery and export terminal at Augusta, Sicily, and occasionally takes Greek cargoes from Motor Oil Hellas' Agioi Theodoroi refinery and export terminal at Corinth. Sonatrach is less likely than private Algerian buyers to seek Spanish cargoes, on which it had been highly reliant until 2020 before it switched in a big way to Augusta after it bought the refinery there from ExxonMobil in 2018. Algerian market participants said the recent slippage in bitumen cargo prices linked to Mediterranean high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) declines and seasonally weakening bitumen cargo differentials to the regional HSFO cargo prices — coupled with a late season slippage in cross-Mediterranean freight rates over the past few weeks — are all factors conducive to resumed imports from Spain. Spanish fob cargo premiums to Mediterranean HSFO cargoes have dropped from around $10/t in mid-October to $2-3/t last week, while outright prices for Spanish bitumen exports have slipped from $498-499/t fob to $458/t over the same period. By Keyvan Hedvat Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Lower Mississippi draft restrictions lifted
Lower Mississippi draft restrictions lifted
Houston, 11 November (Argus) — The US Coast Guard (USGC) removed draught restrictions from the lower Mississippi River on 8 November, after several rain washed across much of the Midwestern US. Draft restrictions were completely lifted for north and southbound barges on the lower Mississippi River between Tiptonville, Tennessee, to Tunica, Louisiana. Approximately 2-8 inches of rain were reported in Illinois and Missouri in the last seven days, adding around 14 inches to the lower Mississippi River, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). St Louis, Missiouri was at a high of 11.5 inches above baseline on 11 November, up from a low of -1.5ft on 1 November. The USGC has had draft restrictions in place since August, with the river system receiving a short reprieve in early October after rain from Hurricane Helene poured into the US river system. But low water levels and restrictions returned about two weeks later. Prior to recent precipitation, drafts were restricted to 10-10.5ft for southbound barges and tows could not not be greater than 6-7 barges wide. Northbound barges could not draft greater than 9.5ft, tows could not be more than six barges wide, and only four barges could be loaded. High water levels are expected to remain through November, according to NWS but barge carriers have said that water levels will slip quickly if no additional rain falls along the upper Mississippi River. By Meghan Yoyotte Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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