European marine biodiesel: Prices fall

European marine biodiesel prices fell under pressure from limited demand and lower values in the underlying markets in the week's opening session.

In northwest Europe, participants pointed to lacklustre spot marine biodiesel demand. Shipowners with scrubber-fitted vessels were looking to purchase high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO)-based marine biodiesel blends in recent sessions. In the Mediterranean, suppliers told Argus that the bulk of enquiries received was for very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) blends. But overall spot demand was limited in the region.

The east-west marine biodiesel spread — the premium held by B30 used cooking oil methyl ester (Ucome) dob ARA to B24 Ucome dob Singapore — narrowed by $4/t to $101/t at the close, a two-week low.

In the underlying fossil markets, the front-month Ice Brent crude and Ice gasoil futures contracts eased at 16:30 BST. In the underlying biodiesel markets, Argus assessments for Advanced fatty acid methyl ester (Fame) 0 barges fell while the price of Dutch renewable tickets (HBE-Gs) remained firm to weigh on marine biodiesel blend prices in the Netherlands.

EU emissions trading system (ETS) prices increased to $73.20/t from $72.25/t. But ETS-inclusive premiums held by marine biodiesel blends against their fossil counterparts diverged.

B24 dob Algeciras-Gibraltar prices fell by $5/t to $790/t, but its premium against VLSFO with the inclusion of ETS costs widened by $4.71/t to $199.86/t. B30 used cooking oil methyl ester (Ucome) dob ARA values decreased by $4/t to $817/t but the blend's ETS-inclusive premium against VLSFO dob ARA gained $4.14/t to $242.82/t.

Calculated B30 Advanced Fame 0°C CFPP dob ARA prices — which include a deduction of the value of Dutch HBE-G renewable fuel tickets — slipped by $10.93/t to $752.39/t, and the blend's ETS-incorporated premium against VLSFO decreased by $2.79/t to $178.22/t. Calculated B100 Advanced Fame 0 dob ARA values declined by $16.58/t to $1,141.98/t, and its premium against MGO narrowed by $19.30/t to $338.11/t when ETS costs were accounted for, the narrowest premium since 12 June.