Singapore marine fuel sales hit 22-month high in Nov

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SINGAPORE — Marine fuel sales at

Singapore jumped to a 22-month high in November, latest official

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data showed on Tueday, as lower prices lifted buying interest at

the world’s largest bunkering hub.

November bunker sales totalled 4.37 million tonnes, climbing

3% month-on-month and up 4% year-on-year, data from Singapore’s

Maritime and Port Authority showed.

The higher sales came despite lower vessel arrivals for

bunkering at Singapore, which dipped dipped by 4% month-on-month

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at 3,299 vessel calls, although edged higher by 3% year-on-year.

Marine fuel prices fell month-on-month in November and this

had incentivised some shippers to agree deals for bigger-volume

stems, bunker fuel traders said.

“Lower cargo prices might have incentivised some bigger

purchases for storage as inventory on the ships’ tanks,” said a

bunkering manager who trades in the Singapore marine fuel

market.

Total sales of low-sulfur marine fuel oil at Singapore

gained 6% from the previous month to 2.75 million tonnes, even

as total sales of high-sulfur marine fuel oil dipped 5% to 1.25

million tonnes in November.

“Vessels without scrubbers opportunistically increased

bunker purchase volumes in the last month due to lower delivered

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prices,” said Ivan Mathews, head of FGE’s Asia Refining and

Global Fuel Oil Service.

He added that low-sulfur marine fuel sales could extend its

climb this month as prices at Singapore also appeared to be more

competitive, compared to other regional ports like Zhoushan.

Bunker fuel prices for 0.5% low-sulfur fuel oil on a

delivered basis have trended lower in November after upstream

crude oil prices fell.

SINGAPORE MONTHLY BUNKER SALES

2022 TOTAL SALES M-o-M Y-o-Y VESSEL M-o-M Y-o-Y

(‘000 tonnes) ARRIVALS

(Calls for

bunker)

Jan 4,033.40 -3.5% -10.4% 3,115 -0.9% -13.3%

Feb 3,501.60 -13.2% -15.0% 2,805 -10.0% -13.4%

Mar 3,770.10 7.7% -10.2% 3,020 7.7% -12.7%

Apr 3,742.30 -0.7% -12.1% 3,025 0.2% -12.5%

May 4,115.50 10.0% 1.1% 3,168 4.7% -5.4%

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Jun 3,754.10 -8.8% -8.7% 2,940 -7.2% -9.3%

Jul 4,120.60 9.8% 1.4% 3,181 8.2% -3.4%

Aug 4,116.30 -0.1% 1.1% 3,212 1.0% 0.7%

Sep 3,967.60 -3.6% 0.8% 3,155 -1.8% 1.8%

Oct 4,251.00 7.1% -0.1% 3,431 8.7% 8.4%

Nov 4,372.70 2.9% 3.6% 3,299 -3.8% 2.7%

BREAKDOWN BY GRADE (‘000 tonnes)

2022 LSFO LSFO LSFO 380 MFO MFO MFO MGO LSMGO Others

100 180 cst 180 380 500

cst cst cst cst cst

Jan 460.1 93 2007.9 0.1 1036.7 85.6 13.8 336.1 0

Feb 459.6 93.8 1733.1 0.2 795.9 128.1 10.6 280.5 0

Mar 555.1 100.6 1741.7 0 962.6 124.9 9.7 271.8 3.7

Apr 533 111.6 1832.6 0 914.5 27.2 7.9 278.6 36.7

May 540.2 103.3 1995.6 0 999.9 72.3 5.8 375.8 22.6

Jun 382.1 90.4 1881 0 1045.9 47.4 6.9 272.7 27.6

Jul 439.1 57.3 2009.1 0 1255.3 12 13.7 313.8 20.3

Aug 397.1 53.9 2059.5 0 1227.5 2.9 11.3 330.4 32.6

Sep 461.2 67.9 1944.4 0 1114.2 1.3 6.3 329.4 42.8

Oct 363.7 68.4 2154.3 0 1309.7 1.6 11.1 305.1 37.1

Nov 697.6 61.2 1992.9 0 1237.2 12.2 22.8 307.8 40.9

(Data from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore)

(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Louise Heavens)