Weekly Bitumen Report: Oil Prices Strength and Rise in Iran and India Bitumen Prices

The negotiators of America and Russia gathered in a hotel in Saudi Arabia for a closed-door meeting. The Black Sea ceasefire deal in 2023 is the most significant topic of these negotiations. On March 23, Ukraine’s representatives met with U.S. officials in the same place.

At the same time, on March 26, Donald Trump announced that his government would implement a 25-percent tariff against the imported cars and car parts from Europe to America, ramping up a global war trade.

During the last week, the oil market observed important incidents that were mainly because of geopolitical factors and the U.S. economic data. According to Reuters, the threats of America to impose a 25-percent tariff against the oil imported from Venezuela raised concerns of the supply reduction in the global market. This action, alongside the report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicating a decrease of 3.3 million barrels in crude oil inventories, reflects the growth of domestic demand in the United States. As a result, Brent oil prices reached their highest level in the past three weeks and are now trading around $73.

However, analysts doubt the stability of this uptrend. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation warned that the increase in crude oil production by the members of OPEC and the United States can determine a long-term decreasing trend for oil prices. Overall, the oil market is in a state of volatility and uncertainty: on one hand, political tensions and declining inventories are putting upward pressure on prices, while on the other hand, concerns about oversupply in the medium term could hinder the continuation of the upward trend.

The analysts of NLI Research Institute believe that the investors are worried that the various tariffs defined by Trump may face the world economy with recession and reduce oil demand. However, the outlook for stricter U.S. sanctions on the oil supply from Venezuela and Iran, along with its rapidly changing policies, makes it difficult to predict a clear trend.

On Thursday, Brent crude oil met the channel of $73. Singapore’s 180CST closed at $460. Bitumen prices in Singapore and South Korea were traded at $425 and $405, respectively.

In Bahrain, bitumen prices remained unchanged at the level of $420. In Europe, bitumen prices improved somewhat and reached $420-450.

On April 1, India is expecting a surge in its bitumen prices and the importers will benefit from more desirable situation.

In Iran, after the end of the first week of the New Year holidays, vacuum bottom was traded with a 26% competition on March 26, indicating a high volume of demand at the beginning of the New Year. On the other hand, next week, with the approach of Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan, many services and operations in Iran and the UAE are likely to be closed, and we should expect new prices in the market starting in early April.

To check the latest bitumen prices at different destinations, check the Infinity Galaxy website: https://infinitygalaxy.org/bitumen-price-today/.

This article was prepared by Razieh Gilani, the export manager of Infinity Galaxy.