FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil product stockpiles see record jump, rise 27% on week

Oil product inventories at the UAE's Port of Fujairah climbed a record 27% in the week to Nov. 8, led by heavy distillates which jumped 42% week on week, the most ever, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone data provided exclusively to S&P Global Platts on Nov. 10.

Total inventories stood at 19.85 million barrels as of Nov. 8, the most since July 26, while heavy distillates rose to 10.501 million barrels, a three-month high, the data showed. Heavy distillates include fuels for power generation and marine bunkers.

"Demand is quite poor today, while there have been delays in loading out cargoes," a Fujairah-based bunker supplier said Nov. 9. Fujairah-delivered marine fuel 0.5%S against FOB Singapore marine fuel 0.5%S cargo assessments was still at a premium of $19.19/mt on Nov. 9, Platts data showed.

Light distillates such as gasoline rose 15% on the week to 5.67 million barrels, the highest in four weeks. Middle distillates such as jet fuel and gasoil gained 12% on the week to 3.679 million barrels, a one-month high. Platts started compiling the inventory data in January 2017.

Adding to signs of plentiful supplies, Bahrain Petroleum Co. issued a tender offering 40,000-60,000 mt of 10 ppm sulfur gasoil for loading from Sitra over Dec. 13-16, Platts previously reported.

While total inventories are down 1.9% since this time last year, heavy distillates are up 10.6% over the same period and light distillates have climbed by 6.9%. Middle distillates are down by 32.5%.