{
  "id": 6081161,
  "title": "Ship fuel shortage looms as refiners strained by war favour other products",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/07/ship-fuel-shortage-looms-as-refiners-strained-by-war-favour-other",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-07T01:10:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/business/economy/2026/09/1527265/ship-fuel-shortage-looms-refiners-strained-war-favour-other"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A fuel oil shortage is expected for the third quarter, affecting ships and power plants, according to a report by Reuters. Refiners are prioritizing the production of diesel and other products due to disruptions caused by wars, straining their ability to meet the demand for fuel oil. While crude oil prices have not seen major spikes, refined product prices have soared, and refinery outages in Russia and the Middle East have further exacerbated the situation. China's reduction in refining capacity and exports has also contributed to the shortage.\n\nAsia, particularly Singapore, will be hardest hit by the fuel oil shortage. As the world's largest bunker hub, Singapore imports more than half of its nearly 1 million barrels a day of bunker fuel demand. The deficit is anticipated to reach 218,000 barrels per day, making it the first shortfall since the third quarter of 2025. Energy Aspects, a consultancy, has forecast this shortfall, citing the ongoing supply disruption in the Middle East.\n\nRecord-low gasoline and diesel inventories worldwide, coupled with record-high US diesel prices, have led refiners to produce alternative fuels, such as diesel and gasoline, from fuel oil. This shift has further tightened fuel oil balances. The price of very low sulphur fuel oil has surged 76% since the Iran war began, reaching nearly $825 a metric tonne in Singapore as of September 1, according to ZeroNorth data. This outpaces a 40% rise in benchmark Brent crude oil over the same period.",
  "summary": "LONDON: A shortage of fuel oil used in ships and power plants looms in the third quarter as refiners increasingly squeezed by wars that have disrupted both crude processing and tanker traffic prioritise output of diesel and other products at their expense.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}