1 July, 2019 (Bloomberg) – ARA stockpiles of fuel oil gained to a five-
month high in the past week on a lack of large shipments to Asia
due to weak arbitrage economics, according to Insights Global.
* Fuel oil stockpiles highest since Jan. 24
** No VLCCs shipments loaded for Asia from ARA in past week
because the arbitrage is shut, Lars van Wagenignen, operations
manager at Insights Global, says by phone, adding that some
Aframax shipments arrived bringing supplies to NW Europe from
Russia and Estonia
** Stockpiles grew as these factors outweighed the impact of
some exports to the Middle East for summer power generation and
to West Africa for bunkering: Van Wageningen
* NOTE: Singapore imports of fuel oil at multi-year seasonal
low: IES data
* Gasoline stockpiles highest for time of year since at least 2010
** Arbitrage fixtures to U.S. have been picking up in recent
days following news of PES refinery closure, and more shipments
are expected to be booked in coming week, Van Wageningen says,
adding that the time-lag from an arbitrage opening to tankers
loading can be up to 15 days
* Jet fuel stockpiles in independent storage in NW Europe slip
** Summer seasonal demand has been picking up in past week, Van
Wageningen says, adding that ARA inventories have been lowered
slightly by increased shipments to U.K.
* Click here for summary of latest weekly changes; See full
dataset
Reporter: Bill Lehane