Oil product stockpiles at the UAE’s Port of Fujairah rose to an eight-week high as of May 9 after exports slowed for April, according to Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and Kpler data.

The total inventory was 18.316 million barrels as of May 9, up 8.5% from a week earlier and the highest since March 14, port data provided exclusively to S&P Global Commodity Insights May 11 showed. Inventories were still 24% below levels seen a year earlier.

In April, product exports from Fujairah averaged 459,000 b/d, down from 599,000 b/d in March and the lowest since January, according to Kpler data.

Fuel oils were the top export, at 277,000 b/d in April compared with 308,000 b/d in March as Singapore, Pakistan, the US, China and South Korea took the bulk of the shipments, the data showed. Qatar was set to receive fuel oil from Fujairah in April for the first time since December 2019.

Shipments of gasoline dropped almost 50% on the month to 83,700 b/d in April while jet fuel shipments came to a halt, the data showed. Naphtha exports were little changed.

Heavy distillates and residues used as fuels for power generation and marine bunkers was the only category to show a drop in stockpiles in the most recent week, falling 1.8% to 11.067 million barrels as of May 9. Heavy distillates are needed at this time of year, and Saudi Arabia looks to use fuel oils for power generation as demand for air conditioning ramps up in the summer.

Light distillate inventories stood at 5.326 million barrels as of May 9, up 31% from a week earlier and the highest in six weeks. Light distillates exports from Fujairah averaged 127,000 b/d in April, the lowest since January 2019, Kpler data showed. Inventories of light distillates were little changed over the past year.

Middle distillates climbed 23% over the week ended May 9 to 1.923 million barrels, a 10-week high, port data showed. The stockpiles were down 50% on the year. Heavy distillate stockpiles were 25.49% lower than this time last year.
Source: Platts