A wave of low-sulphur residual product rushed to satisfy sudden west Mediterranean bunker demand in January after attacks in the Red Sea rerouted shipping.
Low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) imports into the west Mediterranean region more than doubled on the month, to 650,000t, according to Vortexa. This was more than three times the year-earlier levels and the largest amount to be unloaded in the region since July 2023.
More than 80pc of the product was unloaded in bunkering regions such as Algeciras, Las Palmas, and Tanger-Mediterranean, probably to refuel vessels or to be used to produce marine fuel with a sulphur content of 0.5pc or less.
The west Mediterranean experienced a marine fuel demand upswing in January as vessels diverted away from the Red Sea following attacks by Houthi militants. In the most serious of those, a tanker carrying naphtha through the region was struck by a missile on 26 January and caught fire.
Most of the product came from northwest Europe, with more than a third leaving from Rotterdam. Very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) refining margins against front-month Ice Brent crude in northwest Europe widened to their strongest in more than two months on 2 February, at $7.33/bl, having climbed from just under $2/bl three weeks earlier after stocks exited the area.
This week market participants said the Mediterranean is well supplied with VLSFO in the wake of the arrivals.
