FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stockpiles climb to six-week high on thin exports

Stockpiles of oil products at the UAE's Port of Fujairah climbed 2.1% in the week ended Feb. 12 as exports have slowed, according to the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and shipping data.

The total rose to 19.149 million barrels as of Feb. 12, the second consecutive weekly gain and the highest in six weeks, the FOIZ data published Feb. 14 showed. Stockpiles have climbed 11% since the end of 2023.

Heavy distillates used as fuel oil for power generation and for shipping dropped 2.5% to 9.352 million barrels, a two-week low. Light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha increased 4.6% to 6.929 million barrels, a six-week high. Middle distillates jumped 13% to 2.868 million barrels, a two-month high. So far since the end of 2023, stocks of light distillates have climbed 48% after a 55% surge in the first week, middle distillates have increased 14% and heavy distillates have declined 7.8%.

Exports of products except for fuel oil climbed to an estimated 2.17 million barrels in the week started Feb. 5, down from a 13-month high of 6.4 million barrels a week earlier, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. Fuel oil shipments also slowed to 404,000 barrels in the Feb. 5 week, down from 478,000 barrels a week earlier.

Stockpiles of low sulfur fuel oil and high sulfur fuel oil declined as bunker suppliers rushed to fill a backlog of orders, bunker suppliers said. However, LSFO barges were congested, slowing the process of refueling, a trader said. Stockpiles would have dropped even more if not for bad weather since Feb. 10, including heavy rain and high winds, which hampered deliveries and caused "quite a few stoppages," a trader said.

"Weather has been bad since Saturday," a bunker supplier said. "Heavy rains and winds made [refueling] operations difficult. Some vessels changed stem dates, but we have not seen any cancellations yet."

The Platts-assessed Fujairah-delivered marine fuel 0.5% bunker premiums over the benchmark FOB Singapore marine fuel 0.5% cargo values averaged $15.03/mt Feb. 1-13, down from the $18.35/mt in January, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.

Larger ships coming in for HSFO bunkering were less affected by the bad weather because they are heavier and more stable in rough seas, traders said.

The Platts-assessed Fujairah-delivered 380 CST HSFO bunker premium over the FO 380 CST 3.5% FOB Arab Gulf cargo averaged $23.18/mt Feb. 1-13, up from $8.74/mt in January, S&P Global data showed.