Trafigura is reported to have applied for a license to supply bunker fuel in Singapore, the world’s largest bunker hub.
It is one of three companies looking to enter the Singapore market, with Mercuria and United Arab Emirates-based GP Global also applying, Reuters reported.
At least two China-based companies are also said to have submitted bunkering applications to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
Applications closed at the end of January and may take more than two months to be processed, according to unnamed sources quoted by Reuters.
In 2018, Trafigura said it traded over 80.5m tonnes of bunker fuel blending components globally, a figure that was expected to increase to 85m tonnes by the end of last year.
Last August, Trafigura took the market by surprise when it announced a bunkering tie-up with Norwegian shipping tycoon John Fredriksen.
That venture saw Frontline and Golden Ocean agree to take stakes of 15% and 10% respectively in what was described as a “leading global supplier of marine fuels”.
In 2018, Trafigura traded over 80.5m tonnes of bunker fuel blending components globally
Trafigura
The joint ventre, which was supposed to kick-off in late 2019, will act as the exclusive purchaser of marine fuels for Trafigura, Frontline and Golden Ocean
At the time of the announcement Kenneth Dam, Trafigura’s co-head of bunkering, said the company had been growing its physical bunkering business worldwide over the past two years.
“We believe that marine fuel market disruptions will be brought on by the implementation of IMO 2020 regulations and that the JV’s increased base volumes and greater access to both infrastructure and credit will provide increasingly competitive bunkering supply services to our customers,” he said.
“We are confident in our ability to supply quality products at competitive prices to the fleets controlled by the joint venture partners as well as to third party shipowners and operators.”
Trafigura said in a 2019 brochure that its bunkering fleet comprised modern major-approved vessels operating at offshore locations in Central and South America, West and South Africa with plans to commence operations in other locations such as Singapore and elsewhere.
Last month, TradeWinds reported a major shake-up in Singapore’s bunker scene when new statistics showed that Ocean Bunkering Services, a sister company of Ocean Tankers, had been usurped as Singapore’s top bunker supplier.
PetroChina’s Singapore bunkerg arm was named as the top supplier in Singapore, according to a list released by the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA).
There were also some other notable advances, with the likes of Glencore Singapore jumping 14 places on the list to seventh place.
The figures from the maritime regulator also showed that the number of bunker suppliers in Singapore had shrunk to 45 from the 51 in 2018.
A combination of tough market conditions and a crackdown by the MPA on rogue bunker companies is said to have led to the decline.
Sales of marine fuels in Singapore fell 5% to 47.5 million tonnes in 2019, hitting a four-year low as increased regional competition took its toll.
