Asia/Pacific News
Singapore 2022 LNG Bunker Sales Flop as Biofuels Surge
The LNG bunker market declined sharply in Singapore last year amid record prices, while biofuel blend sales surged.
Singapore noted a total of just 16,000 mt of LNG bunker sales in 2022, the Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement on its website on Friday, down by 68% from the 50,000 mt of sales seen in 2021.
The Port of Rotterdam in Northwest Europe also saw a decline in LNG bunker sales last year. In the first three quarters of 2022 Rotterdam saw a total of 289,0002 m3 of LNG bunker sales, down by 56.8% on the year.
The weakening demand was driven by a surge in natural gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. LNG bunkers priced in fuel oil terms at Rotterdam averaged $1,783.50/mt last year, according to Ship & Bunker data, up by 134.1% on the year, while VLSFO prices at the Dutch port gained 44.3% to $735/mt.
Biofuel sales in Singapore presented a much rosier picture last year. The MPA noted a total of 140,000 mt of biofuel blend sales in 90 delivery operations, publishing annual data on this market for the first time.
This market appears to have grown sharply at the end of 2022. At Sibcon in October the MPA said January-September biofuel blend sales totalled about 70,000 mt, meaning this figure doubled in the last three months of the year.
At present Singapore only allows biofuel blend sales of up to 24% in biofuel content for the bunker market.
Singapore's total bunker sales for 2022 slipped by 4.3% on the year to 47.9 million mt, including the LNG and biofuel, the MPA said. Ship & Bunker will publish a full report on Singapore's December and full-year 2022 sales once the more granular data are published.
