FUJAIRAH - Gasoline and other light distillate stockpiles at the UAE's Port of Fujairah fell to a 14-month low as of Monday after refinery maintenance works limited supplies, reported S&P Global Platts on Wednesday, quoting the data released by the Fujairah Oil Inventory Zone, FOIZ.
Light distillates dropped 5 percent in the past week to 5.601 million barrels, the lowest since 27th August, 2018.
The stockpiles have declined for four consecutive weeks, the longest stretch since the data began to be compiled in September 2017. Light distillates also include naphtha and condensates that are stored in white product tanks and have an API of 45 degrees and above.
Saudi Aramco's SASREF refinery is undergoing maintenance until mid-November, Abdulaziz al-Judaimi, the company's senior vice president for downstream, said last month.
Kuwait National Petroleum also said last month that the fluid catalytic cracking unit at its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was undergoing maintenance for four to five weeks. The drop in stockpiles follows attacks in September that forced half of Saudi Arabia's crude output offline.
"I'd say we're still seeing lingering impact of the September Saudi disruptions, recent maintenance at Saudi SASREF and Kuwait Mina Al Ahmadi and high gasoline premiums recently," Alex Yap, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts in Singapore, said. He added, "High freight rates mean arbitrage of gasoline and naphtha has also been impacted recently." Stockpiles of all refined products at Fujairah dipped 2 percent week on week to 22.851 million barrels, a two-week low.
Heavy distillates and residues, including fuel oils used for marine bunkers and power generation, fell 2 percent to 14.016 million barrels, still close to the record 14.551 million reached at the end of October ahead of the International Marine Organisation's low sulphur fuel mandate from January 2020.
"Suppliers want to ensure they have enough compliant fuel to deal with any uncertainty around the transition time," Yap said.
Inventories of middle distillates, such as gasoil, diesel, marine gasoil, jet fuel and kerosene, rose 5 percent to a one-year-high of 3.234 million barrels. The stockpiles soared 53 percent the week before amid signs of weakening demand in the jet fuel market, said the S&P Global Platts report.
Fujairah has the Middle East's largest commercial storage capacity for refined products.
© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2019.
