Vessels affected by Qatar-UAE spat can stem MGO at Sohar, Oman

Vessels affected by the diplomatic spat between Qatar and some Gulf member states can stem marine gasoil at Sohar, Oman, the nearest port from Fujairah, sources said Friday.

Marine gasoil is now supplied at Sohar only by truck, after Omanoil Matrix Marine Services wound up its bunker business in the port last year, said traders.

The port is 40 nautical miles or three to four hours’ sailing time from Fujairah.

Bomin Oil DMCC’s managing director Andrew Laven told S&P Global Platts Friday that the 20,000 mt/month of bunker sales it used to do at Sohar was not enough to continue running the business.

The Bomin Group and Matrix Marine are subsidiaries of German energy company Mabanaft.

After Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier this week, the key regional bunkering port of Fujairah said it would not allow ships flying the flag of Qatar or vessels going to or coming from Qatar to call at the port.

Maersk, a major shipping line, was exploring other routes such as Oman, a friendly Gulf Cooperation Council member state and geographically near to Qatar.

The only other port in Oman where marine fuel is available is Salalah, where BP is a physical supplier, bunker sources said. “Salalah seems the only option but it is a big deviation south from Fujairah,” said a former BP trader.

“Sohar would be ideal, but it is not viable as Matrix has pulled out of its joint venture with Oman Oil,” he added.

Salalah is 753 nautical miles from Fujairah.

Still, an industry source said he was receiving a number of enquiries for bunkers at Salalah since the diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Qatar blew up this week.

BP mainly sells gasoil and naval distillate F76 to naval ships at Salalah. Its bunkering volumes are meager for the volume of vessels calling at the port, the port’s chief commercial officer Jesse Damsky told Platts previously.

Omanoil Matrix Marine Services was a joint venture between Matrix Marine Holding, Germany and Oman Oil Marketing Company SAOG, Sultanate of Oman.