Red Sea crisis: Singapore oil sales increase as vessels avoid risky waterway

Volumes were 12 per cent higher in January compared with a year ago, according to port authority data. That’s the second month of sharp gains as the confrontation in the region sends vessels scrambling to top up fuel at the Asian hub.

“Overall, demand for bunkering should increase due to the longer distances to be covered,” said Fotios Katsoulas, lead analyst for tanker shipping and alternative fuels for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Estimates suggest “this could add up to 5 per cent, if more ships avoid the Red Sea and some of them speed up to minimise the duration of the longer voyages,” he said.

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Overall sales of marine fuel in Singapore were 4.9 million tons in January, up about 12 per cent, according to the Maritime & Port Authority. In December, they hit 5.1 million tons, the highest monthly volume in data going back to 1995.

Prices of low-sulfur marine fuel in Singapore – the most commonly used grade – climbed to as much as US$671 a ton in January, about 10 per cent above levels at the end of last year, according to data from Clearlynx, a marine fuel procurement and analytics platform. That compares with Brent crude’s 6 per cent gain that month.