Asia/Pacific News
Singapore: Quarterly Bunker Sales, Calls For Bunkers at Multi-Year Lows
Singapore marine fuel sales bounced back in March, but both quarterly sales and calls for bunkers at the world's largest marine fuel hub remain at multi-year lows, according to the latest preliminary data from the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA).
Total bunker sales in March 2022 were 3,770,100 mt. As usual the majority of those sales (64% / 2.4 million mt) were VLSFO product, HSFO comprised 29% of the total with just under 1.1 million mt of sales, and distillate and other products made up the balance with 280,000 mt of sales.
Overall, March 2022 sales were down 10% year-over-year but 7.7% higher than the 3,502,600 mt sold in February. However, February 2022 sales were the lowest monthly sales seen in seven years.
The average stem size in March 2022 remained strong at 1,248 mt, well in-line with levels seen over the last five years and only slightly below the 12 month rolling average of 1,273 mt.
Rather, it was the number vessels calling for bunkers that dragged down the overall total sales volume.
March 2022 saw 3,020 calls for bunkers, the lowest number since February 2015 but an improvement on the 11-year low of 2,805 calls for bunkers last month.
The performance puts Singapore's Q1 sales at 11.3 million mt, some 12% lower than the 12.8 million mt witnessed last year in Q1 of 2021 and the lowest quarterly sales since the 10.9 million mt sold in Q2 of 2015.
