As of Monday, September 24, total oil product stocks in Fujairah stood at 16.465 million barrels – down by 8.5% week on week.
Stocks of light distillates were almost unchanged week on week at 5.892 million barrels. The Middle East continues to draw a steady flow of gasoline from Europe, with additional vessel fixtures continuing to emerging. Kuwait’s KPC issued a spot tender seeking the delivery of 25,000 mt of 91 RON gasoline for delivery over October 5-6 to Mina al-Ahmadi in a tender that closed yesterday. Premiums for Arab Gulf RON 95 gasoline remained steady at $3.50/b yesterday.
Stocks of middle distillates fell by 4.8% week on week to 3.982 million barrels. Stocks fell from a near 14-month high last week but remain well above the average of 2.96 million barrels so far this year. Middle Eastern middle distillates are increasingly drawn to the East. Cracks and premiums for gasoil are strengthening in the Asian market even as the Western arbitrage route is firmly closed; the East-West gasoil exchange for swaps rose to an 18-month high of minus 9 cents/b yesterday. A market participant said that gasoil volumes from the Middle East were seen coming to Singapore, attracted by the high prices here — a reflection of the strong demand pull. “I think it’s still a bullish market. AG [gasoil barrels] are coming to Singapore,”.
Stocks of heavy distillates and residues fell by 16.8% week on week to 6.951 million barrels – a six month low. Bunker demand in Fujairah was reportedly softer so far this week average to slow due to the uptick in flat prices, while delivered supply was less tight compared with the first half of the month. Bunker prices are moving higher in line with crude, as Brent futures pushed above the $80/b mark this week. Fujairah has seen increased demand over the past month due to specification issues in Singapore. However, this appears to be waning; 380 CST delivered bunkers in Fujairah were pegged at $4/mt above Singapore yesterday – down from over $20/mt seen last week.
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28th September 2018
