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European Oil Markets
3JUL

Fujairah flips to net fuel-oil exporter

3 min read
10:26UTC

Fujairah residual fuel-oil stocks fell 17% to a multi-year low of 2.05mb in June with zero imports landing, as exports surged and Iraq absorbed 73% of cargoes, turning the Gulf hub into a net exporter.

EconomicDeveloping
Key takeaway

Fujairah drained fuel oil to a multi-year low feeding Iraq, a blockade aftershock the screen ignores.

Fujairah residual fuel-oil stocks fell 17% to a multi-year low of 2.05mb in June 2026 with zero fuel-oil imports landing, while exports surged and Iraq took 73% of cargoes 1. Fujairah is the Gulf's largest bunkering hub, the place ships refuel just outside the strait of Hormuz, and in June it turned net fuel-oil exporter, draining its own residual stocks into Iraqi supply channels.

Fujairah is not restocking; it is shipping product to Baghdad, which points to Iraq rebuilding bunker and fuel supply behind the blockade rather than the Gulf returning to normal trade. Total Fujairah stocks hit a record-low 6.5mb back in May , and the June fuel-oil drain confirms that pressure has deepened, not eased, in the weeks the screen has spent pricing an Iran resolution.

Middle distillates at Fujairah rose 9% to 1.29mb, the one counter-signal, suggesting some Hormuz-bypass cargo has arrived. But a hub draining its heavy stocks to zero imports while diplomacy headlines dominate is the inland tell that the supply map around the Gulf is still redrawn. The blockade's effects sit in the stock data well after they have left the front pages.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Fujairah is a port in the United Arab Emirates that sits on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. This makes it very important: ships refuel there before and after transiting the strait. Think of it as a petrol station just outside a major motorway junction. Right now that petrol station is running very low on one type of fuel: the heavy residual oil that ships use for bunkering. Stocks have fallen 17% to a multi-year low. No new shipments of that fuel arrived in June at all. Instead, Fujairah has been selling its reserves to Iraq. The middle-distillate stocks (lighter fuel and diesel) rose a little, suggesting some cargo has arrived by an alternative pipeline route. The picture is of a bunkering hub that is slowly draining its reserves, with the blockade's inland effects still visible despite diplomatic progress.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Fujairah's net fuel-oil export status reflects the compound effect of two Hormuz-era disruptions: inbound supply chains for fuel oil, which typically arrive as VLCC-delivered bunker grade from refineries in the Gulf and Red Sea, have been restricted by the same Hormuz blockade that is constraining crude flows. Simultaneously, Iraq is rebuilding inland fuel supply positions disrupted by the blockade, creating demand-pull from overland routes accessing the Arabian Sea coast.

The 9% rise in middle distillates to 1.29mb is the single counter-signal in the Fujairah data: it suggests some Hormuz-bypass cargo deliveries have reached the hub via the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (capacity approximately 1.5mbd), which runs from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah without Hormuz transit.

If middle distillates are rebuilding while fuel oil drains, the hub is receiving bypass-route product but not receiving the heavier, harder-to-bypass fuel-oil grades that come primarily from Gulf refineries requiring Hormuz transit.

First Reported In

Update #9 · Russia cliff landed while screens sold Iran

IndexBox (citing FOIZ and S&P Global Platts)· 18 Jun 2026
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