FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stocks drop to eight-month low, wiping out 2020 gains

Oil products stockpiles at Fujairah on the UAE’s East Coast tumbled to a nine-month low, wiping out gains for the year as stocks of marine bunkers and fuel for power declined to the lowest in more than a year.

Inventories as of Oct. 12 stood at 19.686 million barrels, down 4.9% from a week earlier and the lowest since Dec. 30, 2019, according to data released Oct. 14 by the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone. Stockpiles have dropped for a record seven weeks in a row, falling 26% since Aug. 24 and have declined a whopping 36% since the record high of 30.71 million barrels set on June 1.

Stocks of marine bunkers and fuel for power, under the category of heavy distillates and residues, were at 8.965 million barrels as of Oct. 12, down 15% from a week earlier and the lowest since July 29, 2019.

Exports of heavy distillates from Fujairah in the week started Oct. 5 soared to 3.39 million barrels, the most since the week beginning Jan. 13, according to data analytics firm Kpler. Some 716,000 barrels of fuel oil was destined for China, the biggest shipment to that country since Jan. 13, and Tanzania purchased 344,000 barrels of fuel oil, the most to that country since the week started Aug. 21, 2017.

There were at least two loadings of fuel oil for floating storage in the Fujairah lightering zone in the week started Oct. 5, the Kpler data showed. These ships typically supply bunker barges which then sell bunker clips to vessels.

Fujairah bunker fuel with 0.5% sulfur was assessed by S&P Global Platts at $336/mt as of Oct. 13, $5/mt below the Singapore assessment. Fujairah is the most important bunkering area in the Middle East.

Middle distillates stocks, including jet fuel and gasoil, jumped 15% in the week ended Oct. 12 to 4.435 million barrels, a three-week high. Light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha were little changed at 6.286 million barrels.

Platts is the official publisher of the inventory data since January 2017.
Source: Platts