Oil product inventories at Fujairah increased by 6.2% in the week to 19 October, ending a run of three weekly declines as light distillates recorded their largest percentage rise in the available data. Hellenic Shipping News, carrying a Platts report, cited Fujairah Oil Industry Zone figures released on 21 October showing total stocks at 7.247 million barrels.
The recovery still left inventories 65% below their level on 23 February, before the Iran war began, according to the report. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to face disruption. Fujairah sits on the UAE’s eastern coast outside the strait, placing the latest stock figures against a backdrop of continuing constraints on vessel movements through the waterway.
Light distillate holdings, including gasoline and naphtha, climbed 72% to 1.304 million barrels from the previous week’s record low of 760,000 barrels. The percentage increase was the biggest in the FOIZ series shared with S&P Global Energy since 2017. Despite that weekly rebound, light distillate inventories remained 87% below their level at the start of the war, the steepest decline among the three product groups reported.
Heavy distillate stocks, which cover products used in marine bunkering and power generation, rose 12% to a two-week high of 3.682 million barrels. Middle distillates moved in the opposite direction, falling 18% to 2.261 million barrels after reaching their highest level since the war began a week earlier. Across the wartime period, heavy distillate inventories were down 53%, while middle distillate holdings were 23% lower.
The accompanying bunker assessments showed contrasting price movements between low- and high-sulphur marine fuels. Platts assessed Fujairah-delivered marine fuel containing 0.5% sulphur at $982 per metric tonne on 20 October, its highest assessment since 13 October. Delivered high-sulphur 380 CST fuel was assessed at $739 per metric tonne, its lowest since that same date, Hellenic Shipping News reported.