Marine fuel sales in the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah, the world's third-largest bunkering hub, fell in February to their lowest since data started being published in 2021.
Volumes, excluding lubricants, totalled 554,117 cubic metres (about 549,000 metric tons) for February, showed latest Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The decline reflects slower refuelling demand at key bunker ports in the year so far, against a backdrop of global shipping uncertainty. Sales at top bunker port Singapore also softened recently, hitting its lowest in 20 months.
Volumes at Fujairah fell month-on-month for the key bunker grades, the FOIZ data showed.
Sales of 380-cst high-sulphur marine fuel dipped 2% from January to about 143,000 cubic metres in February, while low-sulphur marine fuel sales, including low-sulphur fuel oils and marine gasoils, fell 7.2% to about 412,000 cubic metres.
Some demand was diverted to other ports in the region including Khor Fakkan and Jebel Ali, offering more competitive prices in some instances, a Dubai-based trading source said.
The market share of high-sulphur bunkers narrowed to 26% in February, compared with 29% in January. Low-sulphur bunkers' share widened to 74% versus 71%.
Fujairah bunker sales by month, in cubic meters:
Month | Total Sales | M-o-M | Y-o-Y |
Jan-24 | 674,632 | 2.4% | 6.6% |
Feb-24 | 633,436 | -6.1% | 10.7% |
Mar-24 | 700,918 | 10.7% | 25.2% |
Apr-24 | 638,960 | -8.8% | 7.1% |
May-24 | 615,462 | -3.7% | -0.8% |
Jun-24 | 610,765 | -0.8% | 0.9% |
Jul-24 | 621,679 | 1.8% | -5.7% |
Aug-24 | 656,034 | 5.5% | -3.2% |
Sep-24 | 614,929 | -6.3% | -2.2% |
Oct-24 | 635,471 | 3.3% | -2.9% |
Nov-24 | 606,042 | -4.6% | -0.7% |
Dec-24 | 606,427 | 0.1% | -7.9% |
Jan-25 | 628,663 | 3.7% | -6.8% |
Feb-25 * | 554,117 | -11.9% | -12.5% |
Breakdown of volumes by grade for Jan-25:
180cst LSFO | 380cst LSFO | MGO | LSMGO | 380cst HSFO | Lubricants |
702 | 382,303 | 341 | 28,176 | 142,595 | 4,183 |
Data source: Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights
(1 cubic metre = 6.29 barrels)
(1 metric ton = 6.35 barrels for fuel oil)
(Reuters)