Singapore- Marine fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah, a key bunker hub in the Middle East, extended gains for a second straight month in January but edged lower versus the same month last year, latest data showed.
Volumes, excluding lubricants, totaled 628,663 cubic meters (about 622,700 metric tons) for January, based on Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published by industry information service provider S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The bunker volumes were up 3.7 percent from December, but down 6.8 percent compared to the same month last year.
The climb was led by strong sales of 380-cst high-sulphur marine fuel at the port, which climbed 15.9 percent from December to about 185,000 cubic meters.
In contrast, low-sulphur marine fuel sales, including low-sulphur fuel oils (LSFO) and marine gasoils (MGO), fell 0.7 percent to about 443,600 cubic meters for January.
This widened the market share of high-sulphur bunkers further to 29 percent in January, compared with 26 percent in December.
Fujairah port had retained its ranking at the world’s third-largest bunker hub as of 2024, though volumes have been capped by demand diversion to other neighboring ports as well as broader geopolitical shipping risks in the region.
