London, 6 September (Argus) — Oil products held in independent storage tanks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading hub rose by 10.1pc this week to 5.67mn t, with stock builds for all recorded products.

Fuel oil inventories recorded the sharpest rise, increasing by 22.8pc to 1.26mn t. Tankers arrived in the ARA area from Latvia, Russia and the US and departed for Denmark and the UK. Departures of fuel oil-laden VLCCs for Singapore customarily offers the single biggest outlet for stored fuel oil volumes, but no such loadings took place in the week to today and none are scheduled. Fuel oil stocks in Singapore recently hit a six-week high, impacting demand for European volumes.

Gasoline stocks rose by 14.9pc on the week to 870,000t, rebounding after reaching a 21-month low the previous week. Production of winter-grade gasoline continued apace, bolstering demand for storage tank space. Low Rhine water levels continued to affect the market, with gasoline demand from inland buyers pulling increasing volumes up river. Inland gasoline production has suffered in recent weeks from refinery outages and high blending component prices resulting from high barge freight rates. Interest in European gasoline was firm from the US. Tankers arrived in the area from France, Italy, Portugal, Russia and the UK. Tankers departed the region for Argentina, Latin America, the US and west Africa.

Naphtha stocks rose by 5.2pc to 264,000t, after falling heavily during the two prior weeks. Tankers arrived from Algeria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the UK. None were recorded leaving the area, amid firm demand from gasoline blenders as well as petrochemical end users.

Independent ARA stocks of gasoil rose by 4.1pc on the week to 2.54mn t. Diesel remained the key demand driver for middle distillates, with heating oil buyers continuing to await falls in barge freight rates. Tankers arrived from Russia, the US, India and Saudi Arabia.

Jet fuel stocks rose by 8.4pc to 734,000t, a 42-week high. Inflows have remained at high levels despite the end of the peak demand season. But the rise in inventories was also bolstered by delays in the unloading of vessels arriving during the prior week. Tankers arrived from the Mideast Gulf, India and the Mediterranean and one left for the UK.

Reporter: Thomas Warner