Fujairah storage nears capacity

Market: Crude oil, Oil products
02/04/20

Crude and oil product storage is filling up fast in the Middle East's hub of Fujairah, UAE, because of lack of demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The port's storage capacity of 10mn m³ is scheduled to be fully filled in coming weeks, according to industry sources.

"There is virtually no storage available to rent", a market participant said.

Fujairah Oil Terminal (FOT), which operates a 1.17mn m³ onshore storage facility for crude, oil products and residual fuels, said its tanks have reached capacity.

"I am not sure about other tanks, but our storage terminals are pretty much full at the moment," FOT commercial director Malek Azizeh told Argus.

Fujairah is a major bunkering hub so lower export demand, especially for 0.5pc sulphur fuel, is backing up product into storage. The economics of sending low-sulphur marine fuel to Singapore are being crimped by low prices there and by the high cost of freight.

"Ninety percent of our storage is [low-sulphur]. The rest of our storage balance is fully booked," a Fujairah market participant said.

The lack of onshore storage could raise interest in using tankers as floating storage for fuel oil. But the high freight rates mean this will require a wider contango in the market structure.

"The market is in contango at the moment so most are storing rather than selling. There are floaters but the contango is not as steep to justify maybe $250,000/d charter rate," a bunker trader said.

By Elshan Aliyev

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22/11/24

Cop: Drafts point to trade-off on finance, fossil fuels

Baku, 22 November (Argus) — The new draft on the climate finance goal from the UN Cop 29 climate summit presidency has developed nations contributing $250bn/yr by 2035, while language on fossil fuels has been dropped, indicating work towards a compromise on these two central issues. There is no mention of fossil fuels in either the new draft text on the global stocktake — which follows up the outcome of Cop 28 last year, including "transitioning away" from fossil fuels — or in the new draft for the climate finance goal. Developed countries wanted a reference to moving away from fossil fuels included, indicating that not having one would be a red line. The new draft text on the climate finance goal would mark a substantial compromise for developing countries, with non-profit WRI noting that this is "the bridging text". Parties are negotiating the next iteration of the $100bn/yr that developed countries agreed to deliver to developing nations over 2020-25 — known as the new collective quantified goal (NCQG). The new draft sets out a figure of $250bn/yr by 2035, "from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources". It also notes that developed countries will "take the lead". It sets out that the finance could come from multilateral development banks (MDBs) too. "It has been a significant lift over the past decade to meet the prior, smaller goal... $250bn will require even more ambition and extraordinary reach," a US official said. "This goal will need to be supported by ambitious bilateral action, MDB contributions and efforts to better mobilise private finance, among other critical factors," the official added. India had indicated earlier this week that the country was seeking around $600bn/yr for a public finance layer from developed countries. Developing countries had been asking for $1.3 trillion/yr in climate finance from developed countries, a sum which the new text instead calls for "all actors" to work toward. The draft text acknowledges the need to "enable the scaling up of financing… from all public and private sources" to that figure. On the contributor base — which developed countries have long pushed to expand — the text indicates that climate finance contributions from developing countries could supplement the finance goal. It is unclear how this language will land with developing nations. China yesterday reiterated that "the voluntary support" of the global south is not part of the goal. The global stocktake draft largely focuses on the initiatives set out by the Cop 29 presidency, on enhancing power grids and energy storage, though it does stress the "urgent need for accelerated implementation of domestic mitigation measures". It dropped a previous option, opposed by Saudi Arabia, that mentioned actions aimed at "transitioning away from fossil fuels". Mitigation, or cutting emissions, and climate finance have been the overriding issues at Cop 29. Developing countries have long said they cannot decarbonise or implement an energy transition without adequate finance. Developed countries are calling for substantially stronger global action on emissions reduction. By Georgia Gratton and Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Singapore light distillate stocks hit seven-week high

22/11/24

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22/11/24

Singapore light distillate stocks hit seven-week high

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Pemex's lean Zama spending undercuts goals

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Pemex's lean Zama spending undercuts goals

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Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

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Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

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