FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stocks drop to three-week low

Stockpiles of oil products at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell 1.2% in the week ended Jan. 15, the second consecutive weekly decline, according to data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.

The total fell to 18.013 million barrels as of Jan. 15, the lowest since Dec. 25, the FOIZ data published Jan. 16 showed. Stockpiles fell 16% on the year in 2023 after climbing 29% in 2022, according to port data provided to S&P Global Commodity Insights since 2017. So far this year, the total was up 3.9%.

For the latest week, stocks of light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha dropped 12% to 6.039 million barrels, a three-week low, middle distillates such as diesel and jet fuel declined 7.7% to 2.581 million barrels, a two-week low, and heavy distillates used as shipping fuel and for power generation climbed 9.1% to 9.393 million barrels, rebounding from a five-month low a week earlier.

So far since the end of 2023, light distillates have climbed 29% after a 55% surge in the first week, middle distillates have increased 3% while heavy distillates have dropped 7.4%.

Canceled orders

Some shipowners cancelled bunker orders as they diverted voyages from the Red Sea, traders said. That may have led to the increase in heavy distillate stockpiles, with demand for low sulfur fuel oil weaker than for high sulfur fuel oil, they said.

"HSFO cargo availabilities are doing okay, with prompt cargo availabilities there in the market," a Fujairah-based trader said Jan. 17.

"HSFO levels seem more supported [these days] as availabilities of non-sanction barrels lessened, though there's still plenty of Russian origins and blended cargoes sold at lower levels," a second Fujairah-based trader said, adding that stockpiles were still ample.

The Platts-assessed Fujairah-delivered 380 CST HSFO bunker premium over the fuel oil 380 CST 3.5% FOB Arab Gulf cargo rose to an average $5.77/mt across Jan. 2-16 from $3.09/mt for all of December, according to data by S&P Global.

While new supplies have been slow to come due to a lack of barrels from Kuwait Petroleum, buoying LSFO prices, an incoming shipment from Kuwait is possibly landing between late January and early February, traders said.

"Still not much LSFO demand is [being] seen, probably due to Red Sea disruptions," a Fujairah-based bunker supplier said. "Demand has been slow these past few days. Around two to three suppliers still have prompt availabilities [on offer], while some others are already very committed [through further refueling dates]," a trader said.

The Platts-assessed Fujairah-delivered marine fuel 0.5% bunker premium over the benchmark FOB Singapore marine fuel 0.5% cargo values averaged $25.55/mt Jan. 2-16, down from $28.31/mt in December, according to S&P Global data.

Exports of products except for fuel oil dropped to 5.25 million barrels in the week started Jan. 8, from 5.5 million barrels a week earlier, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. Preliminary data showed that some 2.6 million barrels were headed for Singapore, the most since March 2023. Most of the cargo was clean products, along with naphtha. Fuel oil exports came to 771,000 barrels for the week, up from 624,000 barrels a week earlier, the data showed. The supplies were destined for Singapore and Pakistan.