Fujairah now reporting bunker sales via S&P Global Platts; Feb volumes fall 6.2%

Dubai — The UAE port of Fujairah has begun monthly reporting bunker fuel sales volumes for the first time, exclusively through S&P Global Platts, with February's total falling 6.2% from January, according to a March 23 statement.

February sales totaled 637,585 cu m, with 380 CST low sulfur fuel oil making up the bulk of the volume, the Port of Fujairah, Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and Platts reported. That compares with 679,970 cu m in January.

Platts will publish the previous month's figures on the 20th of every month, as well as historical data from January 2021, the companies said. The figures can be found at https://fujairah.platts.com/fujairah/.

The bunker sales data is reported across six categories: 180 CST low sulfur fuel oil, 380 CST low sulfur fuel oil, 380 CST marine fuel oil, marine gasoil, low sulfur marine gasoil and lubricants. In publishing the data, Platts will provide additional insight on inventory statistics in absolute and relative terms.

Fujairah has exclusively provided its oil products inventories data on a weekly basis to Platts since January 2017.

"The availability of bunker sales data will further increase market transparency," FOIZ Director Salem al-Hmoudi said March 23 at the Fujairah Bunkering & Fuel Oil Forum 2021 organized by Conference Connection.

With Fujairah being one of the three biggest bunkering hubs in the world, "the idea is to strengthen this even further with additional information around trading volume and vessels data in the coming period," he said.

February sales of 380 CST LSFO dropped 11% on the month to 494,037 cu m, accounting for 77% of the total, while February sales of 380 CST marine fuel oil, or high sulfur fuel oil, jumped 28% on the month to 114,295 cu m, the data showed. Marine gasoil sales more than doubled to 3,499 cu m.

Fujairah's low sulfur marine gasoil sales in February stood at 19,399 cu m, down 25% from the previous month.

Fujairah-delivered low sulfur marine gasoil averaged $66.36/mt higher than marine fuel 0.5% sulfur bunker in February. That compared with a premium of $61.90/mt in January and $66.71/mt in December, Platts data showed.

Platts has published independent refined product prices on an FOB Fujairah basis since October 2016.

Singapore, the world's largest bunkering hub, and Rotterdam also report bunker sales. Singapore's February bunker sales were 4.12 million mt, down 9% from January, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The Port of Rotterdam reports sales on a quarterly basis in cu m.

Fujairah has capacity to handle and process over 120 million mt/year of crude oil and refined products. The port helps facilitate the export of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.'s flagship Murban crude through three single point mooring systems located in the Fujairah anchorage area, with the crude carried to Fujairah along a 360-km pipeline that has a 1.5 million b/d capacity.

In addition, ADNOC is constructing a 42 million barrel underground crude storage facility in Fujairah, creating the world's largest underground oil storage site.