Marine bunker sales at UAE's Fujairah hit two-month low in April

SINGAPORE, May 16 (Reuters) - Marine bunker fuel sales at the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah port hit a two-month low in April, although they were higher than the same month last year, latest data showed. Bunker sales at the world's third-largest hub, excluding lubricants, totalled 638,960 cubic metres (about 632,923 metric tons), according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights this week. Sales for April dipped 8.8% month-on-month, but were up 7.1% year-on-year. Volumes posted a fourth consecutive month of yearly increases as Red Sea disruptions supported global bunker demand this year. Low-sulphur bunker sales of residual fuels and marine gasoils totalled 467,119 cubic metres at Fujairah in April, 7.1% lower from March. Meanwhile, high-sulphur bunker sales fell 13.3% from March to 171,841 cubic metres in April. The market share of low-sulphur bunkers was at 73% in April while high-sulphur bunkers was at 27%. Fujairah bunker sales by month, in cubic metres, excluding lubricants: Month Total Sales M-o-M Y-o-Y Jan-23 633,023 -8.8% -2.0% Feb-23 572,371 -9.6% -6.5% Mar-23 559,800 -2.2% -19.0% Apr-23 596,330 6.5% -10.3% May-23 620,388 4.0% -16.7% Jun-23 605,374 -2.4% -6.5% Jul-23 659,566 9.0% -0.8% Aug-23 677,503 2.7% -6.3% Sep-23 628,639 -7.2% -5.9% Oct-23 654,153 4.1% -0.1% Nov-23 610,498 -6.7% -4.1% Dec-23 658,638 7.9% -5.1% 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% Monthly bunker sales by grade, in cubic metres: Month 180cst 380cst 380cst MGO LSMGO Lubric LSFO LSFO HSFO ants Jan-23 300 453,703 151,055 796 27,169 4,039 Feb-23 545 389,544 159,908 713 21,661 4,549 Mar-23 250 451,405 81,058 538 26,549 3,475 Apr-23 480 441,912 126,943 257 26,738 4,270 May-23 170 468,635 126,586 2,021 22,976 4,723 Jun-23 573 449,264 127,573 1,088 26,876 4,732 Jul-23 1,272 459,665 174,227 1,387 23,015 4,151 Aug-23 - 450,420 196,343 459 30,281 4,587 Sep-23 - 425,942 172,945 1,688 28,064 3,944 Oct-23 792 449,652 164,107 1,699 37,903 4,499 Nov-23 513 407,503 171,438 2,430 28,614 4,305 Dec-23 2,409 457,756 167,321 685 30,467 4,414 Jan-24 341 436,604 207,124 122 30,441 4,372 Feb-24 1,000 407,799 192,753 210 31,674 4,420 Mar-24 924 463,245 198,273 321 38,155 5,171 Apr-24 * 742 434,918 171,841 634 30,825 3,734 Data source: Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published by S&P Global Commodity Insights (1 cubic metre = 6.29 barrels) (1 metric ton = 6.35 barrels for fuel oil) (Reporting by Cassandra Yap; Editing by Varun H K)