Fujairah oil products stocks climb for first time in six weeks

Stockpiles of oil products at the Fujairah port in the UAE increased for the first time in six weeks, against a backdrop of strong summer demand from utilities in the region and for jet fuel from Europe, data released Wednesday by the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone showed.

Total stockpiles rose 4.2 percent over the past week to 19.36 million barrels as of Monday, July 8, led by a 41 percent surge in middle distillates which include jet fuel and marine bunker gasoil. Heavy distillates and residues inventory, including fuels used for marine bunkers, were little changed at 9.865 million barrels.

Stockpiles had declined for five consecutive weeks to the lowest level this year as of July 1. While there have been reports of shippers avoiding Fujairah because of recent tanker attacks, the stockpiles at the port have signaled increased demand from utilities for air conditioning in summer and from airlines for jet fuel, according to Alex Yap, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts in Singapore.

"I'd say this is a one-week blip amid strong demand for jet fuel and power generation," Yap said. "As we get into summer, there will be increased demand for fuel oil generally in the region through September or October. In addition, Europe has been taking more jet fuel from the Middle East, and it will probably continue for another month."

Inventories of light distillates, which include gasoline, climbed 1.7 percent to 7.317 million barrels, a second consecutive weekly gain.

Platts is the official publisher of the oil products data, with participation from all 11 commercial terminal operators present in Fujairah.

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