FUJAIRAH, (Pakistan Point News - 16th Sep, 2020) Stockpiles of oil products at the UAE’s East Coast Port of Fujairah dropped for a third consecutive week to the lowest in almost five months, led by declines in marine bunkers and power fuels.
The total stood at 23.241 million barrels as of 14th September, down 0.3 percent from a week earlier and the lowest since 20th April, according to data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone issued today. Heavy distillates, which covers fuels for ships and for power generation, declined 6 percent to 12.552 million barrels, the lowest since 9th March.
Fujairah heavy distillates exports reached 9.088 million barrels in August, the most since January, according to data from Kpler. Fujairah recently shipped 750,000 barrels of high sulphur fuel oil to Saudi Arabia's Shuqaiq power plant, the data show.
Many Middle Eastern members of the OPEC+ coalition have previously told S&P Global Platts that they would need extra crude supplies for electricity generation during a hot August, when air conditioning units are running at full tilt.
Prostar, which owns Fujairah Oil Terminal and GTI Fujairah storage terminals, also sees bunkering continuing to flourish.
"Fujairah has done very well, and the reason it's doing that is its bunker business is still up," Tony Quinn, operating partner of Prostar Capital, told a Gulf Intelligence webinar today. "It's still doing pretty well and we're seeing that through the volumes through our two terminals there."
Stockpiles of middle distillates slipped 0.3 per cent to 3.793 million barrels, the lowest in four weeks, while light distillates rose 12 per cent to 6.896 million barrels, the biggest jump in eight weeks.
The inventory report has been provided exclusively to S&P Global Platts since January 2017.
