FUJAIRAH DATA: June bunker sales fall 0.17% on month led by LSFO

Bunker fuel sales at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell 0.17% month on month in June, led by declines in low sulfur marine fuels.

Total sales dropped to 671,857 cu m in June from 672,991 cu m in May, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data on its website.

Among the biggest changes, sales slumped 53% for marine gasoil bunkers to 786 cu m. Including the low sulfur complex, overall marine gasoil sales rose almost 18% to 31,749 cu m in June.

Sales of low sulfur marine fuel, which include the 180 CST and 380 CST low sulfur fuel oil grades, slipped 3.6% on the month to 511,993 cu m in June. They accounted for 76.2% of total sales, down from 78.9% in May.

Sales of the high sulfur marine fuel oil 380 CST accounted for 18.2% of total sales, up from 16.3% in May, the data showed.

By comparison, June bunker sales in Singapore showed a 1% gain on the month to 4.11 million mt, as HSFO bunker sales rebounded from the previous month.

Scrubber economics

Bunker suppliers in Fujairah said that gains in FOB Singapore cargo marine fuel 0.5% sulfur assessments over the past few months have limited demand. The current spreads between delivered basis of low sulfur fuel oil and high sulfur fuel oil bunkers have improved since 2020, encouraging the use of scrubbers that allow vessels to burn the cheaper HSFO.

"Cost-savings can be quite significant for scrubber-fitted vessels as the delivered basis spread between marine fuel 0.5%S and 380 CST HSFO bunker fuels remain around $100/mt," a source at one shipping company said.

S&P Global Platts data showed that the discount of Fujairah-delivered 380 CST HSFO bunkers to the delivered grade of 0.5% sulfur marine fuel reached an average of $100.90/mt in June, widening $7/mt from the average in May.

According to Platts data, the spread between Singapore-delivered 380 CST HSFO bunkers and the delivered grade of 0.5% marine fuel averaged $116.76/mt in June, gaining $6.30/mt from the average in May.

Industry sources said that the spreads between HSFO and VLSFO would "make economic sense" for scrubbers to be fitted on VLCCs where it would take approximate two to three years to recover the cost of the retrofits.

Bunker sales (cu m)