Marine fuel sales at Singapore, the world’s largest bunker hub, posted a 2.3% monthly decline in August due to softer demand for key conventional fuel grades, data showed on Monday, although marine biofuel sales reached a monthly record high.
Volumes for conventional bunker fuels softened for key grades month-on-month, as some spot demand got diverted to other Asia ports following a spike in Singapore bunker premiums and cargo tightness by late August, market sources said.
August sales totalled 4.56 million metric tons, easing to a two-month low, though logging a 7.2% uptick from a year-earlier period, data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed.
Vessel calls for bunkering dipped 0.6% from July to 3,536 calls last month, although container throughput rose nearly 1% to 3.61 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
CONVENTIONAL FUELS
Sales of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) totalled 2.44 million tons in August, down 1.7% month-on-month, the MPA data showed.
By late-August, delivered LSFO prices in Singapore were much higher than prices at other Asian ports such as Zhoushan and Shanghai, based on data from bunker traders.
Meanwhile, high-sulphur marine fuel oil (MFO) sales totalled 1.69 million tons, down 4.8% from July, but up 21.7% from August last year.
High-sulphur sales trended higher annually as scrubber-installed ships took advantage of wider discounts in HSFO prices versus LSFO prices, with the hi-5 fuel oil price spread widening to a six-month high in early September, hitting more than a $180 difference, based on LSEG’s data.
Separately, marine gasoil (MGO) sales in August fell 1.2% to 306,800 tons month-on-month, though edging 8.6% higher from a year-ago period.
ALTERNATIVE FUELS
Total marine biofuel sales, including low-sulphur blends, high-sulphur blends and marine gasoil blends, rose to a monthly record high of 67,800 tons in August.
Spot premiums of the delivered B24 marine biofuel grade narrowed to less than $110 per metric ton above 0.5% LSFO cargo prices in August, which could have spurred some uptake, according to market sources.
Meanwhile, bunker sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rebounded month-on-month in August, with volumes at 45,600 tons.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
