US Gulf Coast marine gasoil plummets to record low on sluggish demand

New York — Marine gasoil, or MGO, on the US Gulf Coast fell to record lows Wednesday amid dwindling demand.

S&P Global Platts assessed ex-wharf MGO in Houston at $255/mt after a source reported a fixture "in the low $250s." That was down $25 on the day and the lowest Platts had ever assessed Houston MGO.

Sources said demand was practically non-existent. "Seems dead," said one seller.

MGO in New Orleans also reached a new record low Wednesday. Platts assessed it at $290/mt ex-wharf, also down $25 on the day, preserving the current $35/mt spread between New Orleans and Houston for that product.

"Every time I hear something it's lower than previous numbers, everything just keeps dropping," said a second USGC bunker source. "And I really have seen no demand for IFO 380 in quite some time."

The higher sulfur IFO 380 product has fallen out of favor since the January implementation of IMO 2020.

IF0 380 in Houston was assessed at $150/mt ex-wharf Wednesday, down $11 day on day and lowest since reaching $146/mt ex-wharf on April 8, 2016. New Orleans IFO 280 also fell another $11 to $165/mt ex-wharf, lowest since being assessed at $160/mt on April 1 of this year.

Houston 0.5%S bunkers plunged $20/mt on the day to $210/mt ex-wharf, with New Orleans down $20 to $250/mt ex-wharf, both new lows for the newly mandated marine fuels.