Singapore Bunkers Up 12.8% in February as Methanol Doubles and LNG Nearly Does

Singapore bunker demand is not just holding, it is accelerating. The Maritime and Port Authority's February 2026 numbers, reported by Manifold Times, put total deliveries at 4,674,500 tonnes, up from roughly 4.15 million tonnes in February 2025 — a 12.8% year-on-year gain that follows a 16.5% January print. Two consecutive months of double-digit growth in the world's largest bunkering port is a meaningful signal about where real-world marine fuel demand is sitting now that Cape rerouting, Hormuz volatility, and FuelEU pooling decisions are all feeding into tank-mix calculations.

The headline inside the headline is alternative fuels. LNG sales rose to 59,000 tonnes, up 96.7% from 30,000 tonnes in the comparable month, while methanol sales came in at 6,000 tonnes — compared to zero in February 2025. The methanol line had been absent from MPA's deliveries file for most of 2025, because licensed bunker-supply operations only went live on January 1, 2026, when MPA awarded commercial licences to Global Energy Trading, Golden Island, and PetroChina International Singapore. Global Energy Trading has since disclosed two 3,000-tonne parcel stems, confirming that the February number is not a one-off experimental lift but the start of a commercial cadence.

The biofuel complex is rebounding in parallel. Engine and IndexBox both flag a February rebound in B24 and B30 blends after a soft Q4 2025, driven largely by FuelEU compliance pooling demand — European-flag vessels calling Singapore are topping up on bio-blends to improve their well-to-wake intensity scores before the April 30 Thetis pooling deadline. MPA's own 2024 full-year figure already showed alternative fuels crossing the 1-million-tonne threshold for the first time; February's print suggests 2026 will comfortably clear that level on LNG and biofuel contribution alone, even before methanol scales to meaningful volumes.

The one line still missing from the picture is ammonia. MPA has said since 2023 that it expected first commercial ammonia bunkering from 2026, and the Technical Reference framework is in place, but February's delivery file still records zero tonnes. That is the number the multi-fuel port story depends on for the second half of the year — without an ammonia lift, Singapore's claim to run four commercial fuel pathways (VLSFO/HSFO, LNG, methanol, ammonia) remains aspirational, not operational.

What this means for operators. The headline is that demand is genuinely rising, which backs up carrier complaints about bunker cost pass-through. But the operational reality for anyone running a dual-fuel program is that Singapore is finally worth treating as a methanol bunker point rather than a pilot port — the three-licensee structure means you can actually run a competitive RFQ rather than depending on a single supplier. LNG availability looks comfortable at roughly 59kt/month and growing. Ammonia remains a paper plan; if your 2027-delivery ammonia dual-fuel newbuild is pencilling Singapore as a first-call bunker port, keep a Plan B in the charter party. And for European owners optimizing FuelEU compliance, Singapore is now a real biofuel top-up option at parity with ARA — the arbitrage that used to flow only one direction is starting to close.