Sales of marine bunker fuel at the UAE's Fujairah port eased in September month-on-month, led by a drop in volumes of low-sulphur fuel, though high-sulphur sales surged to the highest to-date this year, data from Fujairah Oil Industry Zone showed.
September sales totalled 639,001 cubic metres (about 633,000 tonnes), down 1.8 per cent from August to a three-month low, based on FOIZ data published by SP Global Commodity Insights.
Low-sulphur marine fuel sales, including fuel oils and marine gasoils, totalled 409,365 cubic metres in September, slumping 11.4 per cent from July.
The decline was partially driven by tighter low-sulphur fuel supply after imports of Sudanese crude dropped to zero in August and September, based on Kpler ship-tracking data.
The crude usually goes into the production of low-sulphur marine fuel. In contrast, high-sulphur marine fuel sales surged to the highest in the year so far, climbing 21.7 per cent from August to 229,636 cubic metres in September.
The market share of high-sulphur bunkers climbed to 36 per cent in September, while low-sulphur bunkers fell to 64 per cent.
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh)