FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stocks drop after rare fuel oil shipment to US

Oil product stockpiles at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell to a three-week low as of April 25 after a rare fuel oil shipment to the US, according to the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and Kpler shipping data.

The total inventory was 16.088 million barrels as of April 25, down 5.7% from a week earlier and the lowest since April 4, the FOIZ data published April 27 showed.

Stocks of heavy distillates and residues used as fuels for power generation and marine bunkers declined 7.4% over the same period to 11.068 million barrels, the first decline in five weeks, according to the data provided exclusively to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Some 1.06 million barrels of fuel oils were set to be exported out of Fujairah to the US in the week started April 18, only the second such shipment since at least June 2020, the Kpler data showed. The other weekly shipment of fuel oil to the US from Fujairah was in February, according to Kpler. Bunker demand has also improved at Fujairah, sources told S&P Global.

Heavy distillates are needed at this time of year as Saudi Arabia looks to use more fuel oils instead of crude to burn for power generation as demand for air conditioning ramps up with summer. Other Middle Eastern countries including the UAE typically rely on natural gas for power generation. Heavy distillates stocks are 14.5% lower than this time last year.

Stocks of middle distillates including jet fuel and diesel stood at 1.271 million barrels as of April 25, up 9% from a week earlier and the first gain in three weeks. Middle distillates stocks are down 60.62% over the past year.

Light distillates including gasoline and naphtha stocks stood at 3.749 million barrels as of April 25, down 4.9% from a week earlier and the lowest in three weeks. Light distillates are down 31.61% since this time last year. Shipments of naphtha were headed to Japan and Taiwan from Fujairah for the week started April 18 while 707,000 barrels of gasoline were destined for Kenya, according to the Kpler data.