Weekly Bitumen Report: Start of Uptrend of Iran Bitumen?

After several weeks of mediation by Qatar and Egypt and with the participation of America for a temporary ceasefire and hostage swap of Hamas and Israel, there has been no progress and there is a high pressure to reach a new agreement and ceasefire. Simultaneously, the crises of the Middle East are getting more complicated every day, and transportation situation in the Red Sea is still difficult.

Reuters reported that in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Fatih Birol declared that the International Energy Agency expects that despite tensions in the Middle East, the oil market will have a balanced condition this year in the midst of supply increase and the fall in the growth of demand. Hence, crude oil prices dropped on Monday 22 January, as a result of the negative economic pressures on the global demand outlook for oil, easing geopolitical concerns in the Middle East and an attack on a Russian fuel export terminal.

The activity of a fuel export terminal of Russia that belongs to Novatek Company was disturbed in Baltic Sea by the drone attacks of Ukraine. At the same time, Libya’s National Oil Corporation lifted force majeure on Sharara oil field, the largest oil field in the country, and resumed production after a two-week halt due to protests. These 2 pieces of news could neutralize the effects of each other to some extent.

However, the Middle East crisis is still the main effective factor of energy pricing. On January 25, crude oil exceeded 80 USD once again but its resistance at the level of 82 USD is still observed.

In the meantime, Singapore’s HSFO CST180 dropped 7 dollars and returned the level of 430 USD, bitumen price of Singapore decreased 8 dollars to stay at the price of 436 USD but it is predicted to see an uptrend for the remaining 2 days of this week. South Korea’s bitumen price settled at 385 USD.

Bitumen price in Bahrain has remained stable at $400 for at least three months. Due to the wave of cold season, bitumen prices in Europe faced some changes and recorded in the range of 360-410 USD.

African markets witnessed more surge in bitumen prices that was mainly due to rise in transportation costs.

It is heard that bitumen price in India will increase on February, 1 and after two consecutive months of price fall. This can be a promising news for the Indian and Iranian traders.

After 4 months of complete recession in the bitumen market of Iran, finally, last week, a 13% competition was observed for the purchase of vacuum bottom. If this trend of competition continues among the refineries, it can be concluded that the rally of price increase in Iran has started. However, it cannot be expected that prices will increase quickly. Therefore, the situation of future competition among the refineries within the next weeks can be a significant factor that determines the direction of bitumen market.

Infinity Galaxy as a known supplier of bitumen, with its deep insights into the market analysis, stays with you to safely experience the sense of the market.

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