Sales of marine fuel, also known as bunker fuel, edged lower in June at the UAE’s Fujairah, while total sales in the first half of 2023 slipped 10.5% compared to 2022, latest data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) showed.

Bunker sales at Fujairah provide a gauge of shipping market sentiment in the Middle East, as Fujairah is the world’s third-largest bunkering port and a key transit and blending hub for oil products.

June bunker volumes, excluding lubricants, were at 605,374 cubic metres (about 600,000 metric tons), down 2.4% month-on-month and 6.5% lower than the same month last year.

Volumes for H1 2023 totalled about 3.55 million metric tons, sliding 10.5% compared to the same period last year, calculations based on the data showed.

Prices of delivered 0.5% low-sulphur fuel oil have softened to near parity to Singapore cargo quotes in June, erasing premiums seen at the start of 2023, traders said.

“The UAE is still the main hub (for bunkering in the Middle East) but demand has just been less this year,” said a Dubai-based source from a bunker supplier firm.

The monthly sales were also down in line with world’s largest bunkering hub Singapore, where volumes dropped to four-month lows amid less vessel calls.

Low-sulphur bunker sales at Fujairah totalled 477,801 cubic meters in June, or about 473,000 metric tons, counting both residual fuels and marine gasoils, declining 3.2% from May, the FOIZ data showed.

High-sulphur bunker sales rose 0.8% month-on-month at 127,573 cubic meters, or about 126,000 metric tons.

This brought the market share of low-sulphur bunkers to 79% and of high-sulphur bunkers to 21% in April, little changed versus 80% and 20% in May, respectively.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)