EMEA News
ARA Fuel Oil Inventories Rise Up 20%
Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) area fuel oil inventories continued to rise last week, jumping 20 percent over the previous week to 6.61 million barrels, or about 1.04 million metric tonnes (mt), with ongoing congestion in Rotterdam from Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) fuel oil loadings said to be a key driver behind the gains, Platts reports.
"It's up from very low levels so on a ton basis the increase may not be huge, but as a percentage it's chunky," one trader said.
In the previous week the region's stocks rose to 840,000 barrels, but some sources were quoted as saying falling freight rates would help open up the arbitrage to Asia, preventing any further significant gains.
Also last week, distillate stocks are said to be 1.38 million barrels higher, at 25.13 million barrels in total, while naphtha stocks, standing at 2.38 million barrels, were up 510,000 barrels or 27.1 percent.
Last week Ship & Bunker reported that fuel oil inventories in the ARA region rose during the previous week by 23 percent higher than the five-year average.
