UAE's Fujairah marine fuel sales extend monthly climb but log yearly fall in Jan

PHOTO
Image used for illustrative purpose. A general view shows natural gas wells at the Habshan gas complex in UAE's capital Abu Dhabi. STR New, Reuters

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, totalled 628,663 cubic metres (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% from December, but down 6.8% 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% from December to about 185,000 cubic metres.

In contrast, low-sulphur marine fuel sales, including low-sulphur fuel oils (LSFO) and marine gasoils (MGO), fell 0.7% to about 443,600 cubic metres for January.

This widened the market share of high-sulphur bunkers further to 29% in January, compared with 26% 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 neighbouring ports as well as broader geopolitical shipping risks in the region.

Fujairah bunker sales by month, in cubic meters:

Month	Total Sales	M-o-M	Y-o-Y
Jan-24	674,632	2.4%	6.6%
Feb-24	633,436	-6.1%	10.7%
Mar-24	700,918	10.7%	25.2%
Apr-24	638,960	-8.8%	7.1%
May-24	615,462	-3.7%	-0.8%
Jun-24	610,765	-0.8%	0.9%
Jul-24	621,679	1.8%	-5.7%
Aug-24	656,034	5.5%	-3.2%
Sep-24	614,929	-6.3%	-2.2%
Oct-24	635,471	3.3%	-2.9%
Nov-24	606,042	-4.6%	-0.7%
Dec-24	606,427	0.1%	-7.9%
Jan-25 *	628,663	3.7%	-6.8%