FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stockpiles drop to eight-week low

Oil product stockpiles at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell to an eight-week low on Oct. 31, led by a 13% drop in gasoline and other light distillates from a week earlier, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published Nov. 2.

Total inventories stood at 21.95 million barrels on Oct. 31, down 2.6% on the week and the lowest since Sept. 5, the FOIZ data provided exclusively to S&P Global Commodity Insights showed. The total was still 39.7% higher than a year earlier.

Inventories of light distillates including naphtha slipped to 6.354 million barrels Oct. 31, the lowest since July 11. Gasoline shipments have returned to Pakistan since July after a five-month halt, with some 26,200 b/d of the fuel headed for Pakistan from Fujairah for October, the most since January 2022, Kpler data showed. Around 13,400 b/d of naphtha was also destined for Pakistan in October, the highest since September 2017. Even after the most recent weekly drop, stockpiles of light distillates have climbed 25.37% from a year earlier.

Inventories of middle distillates including gasoil and diesel stood at 2.687 million barrels as of Oct. 31, down 6.9% on the week and the lowest in eight weeks. It was the fifth consecutive weekly drop for the category, the longest decline since January 2021. Middle distillates is the only product group which showed a year-on-year decline in stockpiles, falling 8.4% since October 2021.

Overall cash differentials of 10 ppm sulfur gasoil cargoes loading in the Middle East and western India have propped up and may continue to be supported as buyers seek non-Russian origin barrels, particularly during winter, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported Nov. 2 in an analysis of the latest inventory data. In the week started Oct. 24, a cargo of around 503,000 barrels of gasoil was headed to Egypt from Fujairah, the biggest weekly shipment since January 2021, according to Kpler data.

Inventories of heavy distillates used as fuel for power generation and marine bunkers bucked the trend and rose during the week ended Oct. 31, up 4.6% to 12.909 million barrels, a three-week high. Heavy distillates stocks have climbed 67.5% over the past year.