Bunker fuel sales at the Middle Eastern hub of Fujairah, the world's fourth-largest marine fuels location after Singapore, Rotterdam and Zhoushan, fell on a monthly and yearly basis to a three-month low in September, according to Ship & Bunker.
Total sales excluding lubricants reached 628,639 m3 in September, according to the latest data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and price reporting agency S&P Global Commodity Insights. The total was down by 7.2% from August's level, by 5.9% from September 2022 and the lowest monthly total since June.
September's sales were less than 0.1% higher than the average seen over the previous 12 months. Singapore, the world's largest marine fuels hub, saw September conventional and biofuel bunker sales advance by 7.5% from the same month a year earlier and by 0.4% from August's level 180 CST VLSFO sales in Fujairah remained at 0 m3 in September, 380 CST VLSFO sank by 16.2% on the year to 425,942 m3, HSFO jumped by 34.6% to 172,945 m3, MGO advanced by 39.5% to 1,688 m3 and LSMGO declined by 4.2% to 28,064 m3.
HSFO took a 27.5% share of the total market last month, up from 19.2% a year earlier. HSFO's August total had been the highest since at least the start of 2021, when the current public volumes dataset was launched. Fujairah's average VLSFO price in September was $655/mt, up by 3.1% on the month but down by 7% on the year, according to Ship & Bunker data Singapore's average VLSFO price in September was $663/mt, up by 3.6% from August's level but down by 4.2% from the level seen a year earlier.
Ship & Bunker's G20-VL SFO Index of average prices across 20 leading bunkering ports gained 3.2% on the month and lost 9.2% on the year to $674.50/mt in September.