Refiners in Fujairah rely on imports of heavy sweet crude in order to produce low sulfur fuel oil (ULSD) for the terminal’s bunkering market. In recent years, they have been increasingly reliant on South Sudan’s Dar Blend (26° API, 0.12% sulfur) which is exported from Sudan’s Bashayer terminal. Sudan’s brutal civil war has threatened the continued supply of Dar and Nile grades (MEES, 28 April 2023), and earlier this month Sudan declared force majeure on exports, leaving Fujairah needing to source alternative feedstock (MEES, 22 March).
The first such alternative has now arrived, with data intelligence firm Kpler showing that a 1mn barrel cargo of Argentinian Escalante (24.1° API, 0.19% sulfur) arrived on 27 March. This is the first Escalante cargo to arrive in more than a year, while a second is currently en route. Escalante is unlikely to be the only Dar-alternative to be supplied to Fujairah, with Chad’s Doba blend (28° API, 0.07% sulfur) also a common substitute. (CONTINUED - 155 WORDS)