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Fujairah Marine Fuel Sales, Petroleum Product Stocks at Record Lows, Data Show

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Marine fuel sales at Fujairah, the UAE's largest bunkering hub, dropped to a record low in May, while petroleum product inventories continued to decline to new lows this month, according to data from the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone and S&P Global on Wednesday.

Tallied data showed that bunker fuel sales, excluding lubricants, totaled 96,721 cubic meters last month. Volumes have started falling since the US-Iran war began in late February, with May figures dropping 24% from a month earlier and 84% from a year ago, according to Ship & Bunker.

Sales of low sulfur fuel oil with viscosity of 380 centistokes dropped to a record low of 57,382 cubic meters in May. This was down about 30% from April levels, as per the marine fuel publication's analysis.

LSFO with 180 cst viscosity also posted a month-over-month decline by 63% to 200 cubic meters.

Sales of high sulfur fuel oil, or 380 cst marine fuel oil, fell by a further 15% to 31,601 cubic meters in May, the analysis showed. Low-sulfur marine gasoil sales also slipped 2% to 7,157 cubic meters.

Meanwhile, petroleum product stocks in the week ended June 15 stood at 5.1 million barrels, based on tallied data. This represents a record low following a 4.3% week-over-week decline, according to S&P Global.

Of this total, light distillates, including gasoline and naphtha, accounted for about 1.4 mmbbls. Stocks have dropped 33% to their lowest on record since the week of Feb. 16, the research firm said.

Inventories of middle distillates, on the other hand, rose 6.5% from a week earlier to around 1.4 mmbbls. These include jet fuel and diesel.

Stocks of heavy distillates and residues increased by 18% to a near one-month high of 2.4 mmbbls, according to the analysis.

Following the onset of the US-Iran war in late February, total inventories have plunged 75%, S&P Global said, citing FOIZ data. During the same period, light distillates have dropped 86%, heavy distillates 73%, and middle distillates 54%.

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