Oman Oil starts bunker sales at Sohar port

Christophe El Kati, senior manager of Oman Oil Marketing Company, has said that the company has begun bunker sales at Sohar port on the country’s east coast, as an alternative fuel source to the Port of Fujairah in the UAE.

Mr El Kati told S&P Global Commodity Insights that after receiving a bunker licence from the SOHAR Port and Freezone, IMO-compliant 0.5 percent sulphur marine fuel, 0.1 percent marine gasoil and 3.5 percent 380 CST bunker fuel are being offered.

The products are being offered from the company’s 10,000 mt capacity barge Alpha. Sohar port currently receives about 3,000 vessels per year and does about 15,000 mt/month of bunker sales.

Mr El Kati said: “Shippers may look at Sohar as an alternative to taking bunker fuel at Fujairah, especially in the event of congestion and delays at terminals at the larger Middle Eastern bunkering hub.”

“We have flexibility, we have availability, we don’t have the wait times for ships to anchor, so we can add value where Fujairah cannot.”

SOHAR Port and Freezone is managed by Sohar Industrial Port Company, a 50:50 joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam and Oman.

Marine fuel 0.5 percent bunker currently accounts for a little over 80 percent of demand at Sohar, but plans are afoot to potentially start supplying biodiesel toward the end of 2022 to cater to growing demand from shipowners for alternative cleaner fuels, El Kati said.

For more information visit www.soharportandfreezone.com