Oman's northernmost port of Shinas is planning to launch a marine fuel supply service with first-phase capacity of 200,000 metric tons per month — equivalent to 2 million mt/year — as shipping companies look for alternatives to traditional Middle East bunkering hubs rocked by the regional conflict.

The target, reported by the Oman Observer citing Oman's ministry of transport, would position Shinas as a direct challenger to the UAE's Port of Fujairah, the region's dominant bunker port located just to the north. No timeline for the start of supply operations was provided, and the port could not be immediately reached for comment.

Germany's Bilfinger has signed an agreement with Shinas Marine Fuels & Oil Terminals SPC covering delivery of phase 1 of the project, the newspaper reported earlier this month. Bilfinger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What is driving the move?

The plan is a direct response to severe shipping disruptions in the region since the start of the Iran war in late February. Fujairah, long the default bunker call for tankers and boxships transiting the Gulf, has seen sales slide.

Fujairah's 2025 bunker sales came in at 7.38 million mt, according to port data. The war's impact was sharpest in June, when volumes collapsed to roughly 88,000 mt — a fraction of normal monthly throughput — although they have since rebounded.

That volatility has created commercial space for a second regional supplier. Shinas, until now a port used mainly by fishing boats and for vessel repairs, is betting that carriers want a diversified bunkering option on the Gulf of Oman coast rather than concentration risk at a single hub.

Who will run the port?

The bunkering project sits on top of a broader overhaul of Shinas' governance. Earlier in September, Oman's transportation ministry signed a 39-year agreement with QS Maritime LLC of Oman to manage, operate and develop the port, according to the Oman Observer. The company was not immediately available for comment.

QS Maritime is no newcomer: it took over port operations at Shinas in January 2024, the newspaper reported. The new concession formalizes and extends its mandate over a facility the government now wants to convert from a fishing and repair backwater into a fuels terminal with industrial-scale throughput.

What does it mean for shippers and suppliers?

For shipowners and operators, an additional bunker outlet on the Gulf of Oman would widen supply options at a moment when Fujairah's reliability has been tested by geopolitical risk. Bunker buyers have already shown willingness to shift stems when conflict disrupts established hubs, and a credible 2 million mt/year operation would give them a proximate alternative rather than a detour to Singapore or other distant suppliers.

For Fujairah, the competitive threat is real but conditional. Shinas' first-phase capacity of 200,000 mt/month compares with Fujairah's full-year 2025 sales of 7.38 million mt — roughly 615,000 mt/month on average — meaning Shinas at full phase-1 run-rate would still be a fraction of the incumbent's scale. Fujairah's June trough of 88,000 mt, however, shows how quickly volumes can move when risk perception changes, and a second licensed supplier would capture some of that flight flow permanently.

For bunker suppliers and traders, a new licensed terminal at Shinas opens tendering and storage opportunities tied to phase 1, with Bilfinger's engineering role signaling an EPC contract already in motion. The pace of commercial fuel supply will hinge on infrastructure delivery timelines that neither the port nor the ministry has disclosed.

The road ahead

Shinas' trajectory now depends on execution: QS Maritime must convert a 39-year concession and a Bilfinger phase-1 agreement into actual fuel supply, and the ministry has yet to publish a start date. If regional shipping disruptions persist, Shinas' 2 million mt/year ambition lands on a market that has already demonstrated demand for alternatives to Fujairah.