FUJAIRAH DATA: Oil products stocks jump 12%, biggest gain since February

Dubai — Stockpiles of oil products at Fujairah jumped 12% in the week to Dec. 7, the biggest rise since February amid signs of slowing exports from the UAE port, according to Dec. 9 data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.

The total stood at 23.088 million barrels as of Dec. 7, the highest since Sept. 14, according to the data provided exclusively to S&P Global Platts.

Heavy distillates including fuel for power generation and bunkers rose 18%, while middle distillates including jet fuel and diesel jumped 13% and light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha rose 3%. It was the first time since August that all three categories showed week-on-week gains.

Exports of all three categories have slowed in recent months, according to commodity data company Kpler. For November, some 96,000 b/d of middle distillates was headed out of Fujairah, down from 137,000 b/d in June, while 213,000 b/d of fuel oil was exported, down from 282,000 b/d in October, Kpler data showed.

Power demand in the Middle East usually slows in winter as the weather turns colder. In the past two weeks, stocks of heavy distillates including fuel oil ballooned 40%.

Light distillates exports were only 99,000 b/d in November, down from 312,000 b/d in August, according to Kpler.

Light distillates inventories on Dec. 7 stood at 6.818 million barrels, the highest since Sept. 14. Middle distillates came to 6.063 million barrels, close to the record 6.161 million barrels on Nov. 23. Heavy distillates totaled 10.207 million barrels, a seven-week high.