Fujairah’s stockpiles of heavy distillates and residues fell down for the first time in three weeks on signs of additional demand amid higher prices at competing ports, according to data released by Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) today.

The data, officially published by S&P Global Platts, marked that heavy distillate and residue stocks declined by 13% week on week to 9.333mn barrels as of Aug.19. This is the lowest since July 29. The drop added to an already 6% decline in all oil product inventories at Fujairah to 19.898 barrels – a two-week low, according to the data.

The S&P Platts data recorded the price of 380 CST delivered bunker fuel in Singapore at $10/mt higher than Fujairah yesterday. The Asian ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Busan have all seen premiums of more than $100/mt over Singapore.

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According to Alexander Yap, an analyst at Platts Analytics in Singapore, “Supply tightness of bunker fuel in east Asia should begin to attract some supply from other regions, including the Middle East.”

Other data released showed that gasoline and other light distillates inventories were up by 8% over the week to 8.299mn barrels, the most since June 17. The middle distillates saw a declined to 21% to 2.266mn barrels after rising 35% the week before.