Singapore’s marine fuel sales, also known as bunker sales, were steady in September month-on-month as vessel calls and container throughput were little changed, official data showed on Monday.

Sales in September totalled 4.26 million metric tons, up 0.2% from prior month and 7.7% higher year-on-year, latest data from the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) showed.

Bunker sales in Singapore are a key indicator of sentiment at the world’s largest ship refuelling hub, which is also one of the busiest shipping lanes globally.

Singapore’s container throughput was 3.7% lower from August’s levels, at 3,206,700 twenty-foot equivalent units in September. The number of vessel calls for bunkering stood at 3,478 last month.

Low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) sales for bunkering had totalled 2.45 million tons in September, down 2.2% from August, while high-sulphur marine fuel oil (MFO) sales totalled 1.47 million tons in September, up 5.7% from prior month.

Bunker fuel prices trended higher in September due to an increase in upstream crude oil prices, leading to less spot buying from shippers.

“380-cst high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) cracks weakened significantly month-on-month in September, offsetting an increase in crude flat prices,” said Ivan Mathews, FGE’s head of Asia refining and global fuel oil service.

“As a result, HSFO bunker prices were cheaper in September, driving more opportunistic purchases of the high-sulphur grade.”

ALTERNATIVE FUELS
Sales of bio-blended LSFO eased after a steady monthly uptrend into August, falling to 43,000 tons in September.
Total bio-blended LSFO sales were at 324,460 tons in 2023 so far, the data showed.

September bunker sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to 7,700 tons for a second month, with total sales at 78,380 tons to date this year.

Source: Reuters reported by Muyu Xu and Jeslyn Lerh and edited by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Varun H K