Iraq June fuel oil exports plummet after Iran pulls power supply

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Iraq's fuel oil exports more than halved in June to 111,000 barrels per day (bpd), said ship tracking company Kpler Friday, after a cut in power and gas supplies from Iran lead to a large uptick in domestic consumption of oil for power generation.

No fuel oil at all was sent to the usual large buyers including Singapore, South Korea and India, said Kpler, and exports dropped 126,000 bpd.

Inventory levels for fuel oil in Fujairah and Singapore have hit 3-month and 4-month lows respectively in the last week, with peak power generation demand throughout the region setting in as summer temperatures spike air conditioning usage.

But, refining margins for month-ahead 380cst fuel oil in the hub of Singapore sunk $1.22/b in the past week to -$9.68/b according to Quantum data.

Cracks for Q4 also fell from -$7.29/b to -$8.25/b as weakness in the nearby dragged down the curve.

Fujairah fuel oil stocks were drawn down by 810,000 barrels in the week to July 5, but at 11.05 million barrels are still around the average level for the year so far and for 2019.

Likewise, Singapore stocks fell 1.2 million barrels to 22.8 million barrels in the week ending July 7 but this was just 2% down from the average stock level seen this year.