Fujairah oil product stocks down 6.9% on week to 16.08 mil barrels

Total refined product stocks in Fujairah stood at 16.08 million barrels in the week to October 23rd, down 6.9% from the previous week, led by a large draw in light distillate stocks, according to data from the Fujairah Energy Data Committee, FEDCom.

Stocks of light distillates at the UAE hub fell by 23.5% week on week to 4.376 million barrels, their lowest total since January 16th, driven by continued demand for gasoline from Iran as well as for naphtha from Asia, S&P Global Platts Analytics said in a report.

Demand for gasoline is currently strong in the Middle East, while supply has been tight due to partial maintenance closures this month at a number of refineries.

Meanwhile, Iran is seeing reduced domestic gasoline output due to lower condensate supply as a result of maintenance at the South Pars fields.

Stocks of middle distillates fell by 14% to 2.481 million barrels and stock levels remained below 3 million barrels for a sixth week in a row, as regional supply has been impacted by both refinery maintenance and a pull on gasoil from the West, Platts Analytics said.

Stocks of heavy distillates and residues rose by 6.3% to 9.221 million barrels, but remained below 10 million barrels for a fourth week in a row.

Stock levels have been drawn down this month partly due to heavy flows of fuel oil to Pakistan.

Pakistan State Oil has tendered for a lower total of 195,000 mt of fuel oil loading from Fujairah in November compared to October (520,000 mt), which could see stock levels rise from recent lows.