Singapore (Platts)--6May2011/557 am EDT/957 GMT

Glencore Singapore has not renewed its licence for delivered bunker fuel sales in the country, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said on Friday.

Market sources, however, expect Glencore to remain active in the ex-wharf bunker market, and leave the delivered bunker business to be handled by Chemoil Energy, of which Glencore holds a 51.54% stake.

Glencore has not yet replied to queries regarding the non-renewal of the licence while Chemoil's spokeswoman said: "Our corporate practice is such that we do not comment or speculate on the activities of any of our shareholders."

An MPA spokesperson said: "As Glencore Singapore Pte Ltd decided not to renew their bunker supplier licence, they have been removed from MPA's list of accredited bunker suppliers. There are now 79 accredited bunker suppliers in Singapore," said an MPA spokesperson.

MPA on its website has listed Singapore's bunker suppliers by volume for 2010 and in that list Glencore was the 47th biggest seller of bunker fuel in the year and Chemoil the sixth biggest.

The port authority does not reveal the actual volume sold by each company but Singapore, the biggest bunkering port in the world in terms of sales, sold a record 40.9 million mt of bunker fuel in 2010. This is 12.3% higher compared with the 36.4 million mt of bunker fuel it sold in 2009.

In comparison, another top bunkering port -- Fujairah -- saw an estimated 24 million mt of sales in 2010, a Fujairah official had said in March.

The number of accredited bunker suppliers in Singapore reached 80 in October last year, the largest number the republic has seen since it launched its accredited bunker licence scheme in 2005, MPA had said.

--Goh Shu Hui, shu_hui_goh@platts.com

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