Marine fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah fell to a record monthly low in February, according to data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone published by SP Global.
Trade sources expect an even further drop in volumes in March, after the US-Iran conflict erupted at the end of February and as drone attacks have so far hampered oil-loading operations at the major Middle Eastern bunker hub.
Bunker sales, excluding lubricants, totalled 549,765 cubic metres (about 544,570 tonnes) for February, based on latest data as well as historical data available since 2021.
Low-sulphur marine fuel sales dipped one per cent from the prior month to 365,706 cubic metres.
High-sulphur marine fuel sales slumped 35.6 per cent from January to around 147,000 cubic metres last month.
Marine gasoil sales fell 2.7 per cent to 37,070 cubic metres.
The market share of low-sulphur bunkers widened to 73 per cent in February versus 64 per cent in January, while high-sulphur bunkers narrowed to 27 per cent versus 36 per cent in the prior month.
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)