Refined oil product stockpiles at the Middle East hub of Fujairah fell 6.8 percent in the week to 9th March, led by a drop in light distillates amid signs that Middle East supplies of naphtha and gasoline blending materials are moving to Asia, according to data released Wednesday by the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone.
Total stocks dropped to 21.576 million barrels, a six-week low. Light distillates, including gasoline, naphtha and reformate, slipped 11 percent to 6.758 million barrels, the lowest level in seven weeks.
Middle East stockpiles of light distillates have been moving east, with Singapore inventories at an 11-month high as of 4th March, according to Enterprise Singapore data.
Chinese importers have also been actively seeking spot naphtha barrels for March delivery to compensate for lower domestic supply after refineries reduced operations amid a drop in overall oil product demand following the coronovirus outbreak, S&P Global Platts reported earlier.
"Asian refiners have been cutting runs due to the coronavirus, which has kept naphtha supply somewhat tight despite the weakness in petrochemicals," Alex Yap, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts Analytics in Singapore, said. "The Middle East and India typically export naphtha, but supply from both has been lower due to maintenance in the first-quarter. Now we have the gasoline season and spring maintenance upcoming."
Inventories of heavy distillates and residues slipped nine percent to 12.315 million barrels, a four-week low.
Meanwhile, stocks of middle distillates, such as gasoil, diesel, marine gasoil, jet fuel and kerosene, bucked the trend, gaining 28 percent to 2.503 million barrels.
Platts is the official publisher of the oil product data at Fujairah, which has the Middle East's largest commercial storage capacity for refined products.
