FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stocks drop to six-week low as exports pick up

Oil product stockpiles at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell to a six-week low with exports picking up, even as prices for everything from gasoline to low sulfur marine bunkers fell in the region.

The total inventory was 20.389 million barrels on May 24, down 13% from a week earlier and the lowest since April 12, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data shared exclusively with S&P Global Platts May 26. It was the biggest drop in percentage terms since early March while the actual decline of 3.056 million barrels was the biggest retreat since the end of 2019 when stockpiles stood at 18.568 million barrels.

Light distillates tumbled 16% over the week to May 24, middle distillates fell 9% and heavy distillates were down 13%.

Stockpiles declined across the board as prices for various products at Fujairah had also been dropping. FOB Fujairah prices for 95 unleaded gasoline, kerosene, gasoil 10 ppm and HSFO 380 CST all declined over the week to May 25, while the differentials for 0.5% and 0.1% sulfur marine bunkers against Singapore narrowed over the same period, according to S&P Global Platts assessments.

Oil product exports from Fujairah for May are so far averaging 661,000 b/d, the highest level since February, according to data from energy intelligence provider Kpler. Traders had booked an average of 25,900 b/d of products destined for Saudi Arabia, the most since November 2020, and shipments to Pakistan were up for a second consecutive month.

On the downside, some 86,000 b/d of oil products from Fujairah are destined for Singapore so far this month, down from 123,000 b/d in April, while shipments heading for India are the lowest since January, according to Kpler data. India's gasoline exports plunged the most in more than a year in April, as steady cutbacks to refinery run rates amid domestic lockdowns due to the pandemic reduced the availability of export cargoes, according to government data.

Inventories of light distillates came to 5.127 million barrels on May 24, the lowest in two weeks, while heavy distillates stood at 11.869 million barrels, a six-week low, the FOIZ data showed. Middle distillates stood at 3.393 million barrels, a four-week low.