Marine fuel sales in Singapore, the world’s largest bunker port by volume, fell 5.3% to 3.38 million tonnes in August after five straight months of record high volumes, official data showed on Monday.

A drop in vessel arrivals and slightly pricier fuel last month contributed to the fall in sales, traders said.

 

“Singapore may be cheaper than other ports in the region, but the record sales every month were not sustainable, considering the market has generally been quite slow,” said a Singapore-based bunker trader.

 

August bunker premiums, the price differential between ex-wharf bunker and fuel oil cargo values, averaged at US$1.51 ($2.02) a tonne, higher than July's average of US$1.45, Reuters data show.

 

Also fixed-price levels were higher, with August 380-cst bunker prices averaging US$446.59 ($597.58) a tonne versus US$439.59 for July, in line with higher crude benchmarks.

 

Vessel arrivals for August fell 2.3% versus July, the data showed. 

 

Sales volume of the most common 380-centistoke (cst) grade lost 6.9% to 2.55 million tonnes.

 

However, higher viscosity grades of over 500-cst registered a gain of 3.5% to 491,000 tonnes due to a lack of blending stocks last month, traders said.

 

“There weren’t enough cutters in the market, making it more expensive to blend high-viscosity fuel down to the 380-cst grade,” said another marine fuel trader.