FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product inventory rises as light distillates stocks soar 18%

Stockpiles of oil products at the UAE's Port of Fujairah rose 3.5% in the week ended April 10, led by a spike in light distillates, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data published April 12.

Total inventories rose to 19.863 million barrels, the highest level since March 27, the FOIZ data provided exclusively to S&P Global Commodity Insights showed.

Stockpiles of light distillates -- such as gasoline and naphtha -- soared 18% to 7.170 million barrels, to the highest level since March 27.

Light distillate stocks had plummeted in the week earlier by 21.3% to 6.075 million barrels, the lowest level since July 4, 2022.

The Asian gasoline complex strengthened in early trading April 10, as Indonesia's gasoline demand is expected to pick up ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festivities.

Singapore's gasoline exports rose 41.9% week on week to 480,309 mt over March 30-April 5, while imports fell 43.4% during the period to 111,678 mt, boosting the city-state's net exports by 161.2% to 368,630 mt.

Gasoline outflows to Indonesia surged 120.7% on the week to 104,848 mt, ahead of the Eid-al Fitr festivities.

The fall in Singapore's gasoline imports came in the wake of a decline in gasoline inflows from South Korea, with Singapore buying 0.0240 mt of gasoline in the week ended April 5, down from 71,836 mt the week before, the data showed.

Pre-Easter demand dips

Stocks of heavy residues, such as fuel oil and marine fuels, inched up 1.5% to 10.199 million barrels in the week ended April 10 after a 13.39% draw down seen in the previous week. Stocks had touched a four-week high of 11.602 million barrels in the week ended March 27.

A slight built in stocks was likely due to a dip in demand going into the long Easter holiday weekend, traders said. Even so, the downstream marine fuels market has on the whole seen an uptick in demand since early last week, a trend that has improved this week, UAE-based bunker traders said.

Traders have attributed a rise in demand to buyers, especially those that have otherwise been on the sidelines, rushing in to meet their requirements after flat price rallied due to OPEC+ decision to further cut oil output.

A rise in demand in recent days has, in turn, led to tight availability for some of the suppliers, especially for product deliverable prior to April 18, traders said.

Traders have also attributed tight availability, especially on an ex-wharf basis, of low sulfur bunker fuel, to an unplanned maintenance shutdown at Kuwait's Al Zour refinery.

The premium for Fujairah-delivered marine fuel 0.5%S bunker over benchmark Singapore marine fuel 0.5% cargo rose $4.02/mt day on day at $15.35/mt on April 11, S&P Global data showed.

Mixed diesel outlook

Stocks of middle distillates, including diesel and jet fuel, plunged 18.9% to 2.494 million barrels, to the lowest level since March 6.

The Asian gasoil market was expected to be mixed over April 10-14 as traders weigh demand and supply balances.

Some market sources said possibly higher volumes flowing into Asia from India and the Persian Gulf could weigh on the gasoil complex, while some others said the barrels could help fill a supply gap due to leaner volumes expected in April from major northeast Asian exporters.

The fall in middle distillates inventories was despite easing gasoil and jet fuel market structures. Backwardation flattening typically incentivizes storage of barrels over sales as later-loading cargoes command a higher cash differential than earlier-loading ones.

Total stocks at Fujairah are down 4% since the start of the year, with heavy residues up 0.9%, with middle distillates down 19.3% and light distillates down 4%.