DMEA: Saudi importing fuel oil from Kuwait

Saudi Arabia has turned to Kuwait to help meet peak summer power demand, importing fuel oil from the country for the first time since May 2022.

The decision was made following a decline in discounted supplies from Russia, according to a Reuters report that cited shipping data and trade sources.

Shipping analytics companies Kpler and Vortexa revealed that Saudi Arabia’s imports of Kuwaiti high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) had risen to 180,000 tonnes – around 37,000 barrels per day (bpd) – following the re-start of trade. This has had the additional effect of allowing more Kuwaiti supply to remain in the Middle East, upholding benchmark prices in Singapore despite the larger trend of declining Middle Eastern exports.

The fuel oil imports are likely to continue until August, as trade sources have noted that Aramco Trading additionally won a tender for 130,000 tonnes of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) from the Al Zour refinery in Kuwait.