Oil products inventories at the UAE’s Port of Fujairah dropped 9.6% in the week ended Dec. 9, again led by a plunge in heavy distillates and residues used as fuel oil for shipping and power generation, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published Dec. 11.
The total fell to 15.798 million barrels, close to the record low of 14.235 million barrels reached on Nov. 25, according to FOIZ data compiled by S&P Global Commodity Insights since 2017. The decline was led by a 25% slump in heavy distillates after rising 37% a week earlier and falling 31% the week before. Fujairah has three refineries but it could not be learned if maintenance is underway at any of one of them, as some traders have speculated.
The weekly drop left total stockpiles down 8.9% since the end of 2023 after dropping 16% last year.
Inventories of heavy distillates slipped in the latest week to 6.419 million barrels, close to 6.271 million barrels on Nov. 25, the lowest since December 2018, according to the data. Heavy distillates have dropped 37% this year so far.
Middle distillates such as jet fuel and diesel advanced 1.7% in the latest week to 2.430 million barrels, an eight-week high. They have declined 3% so far in 2024.
Light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha increased 6.4% to 6.949 million barrels, the highest in 16 weeks. They have expanded 48% so far this year. This is the first time since 2019 that light distillates exceeded heavy distillates.
In the shipping market for bunker fuel, low sulfur fuel oil prices have rallied over the past week while high-sulfur fuel oil prices declined.
For LSFO, Platts, part of Commodity Insights, assessed the Fujairah-delivered marine fuel 0.5% sulfur bunker premium over the benchmark FOB Singapore marine fuel 0.5% sulfur cargo at $8.38/mt in the week ended Dec. 6, up almost 17% from a week earlier.
On HSFO, the Fujairah-delivered 380 CST bunker premium over the fuel oil 380 CST 3.5% FOB Arab Gulf cargo assessment averaged $21.11/mt, down 13% over the same period.
Source: Platts
