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Israel's seaborne diesel, gasoil exports plummet

  • Märkte: Oil products
  • 02.11.23

Israel's exports of gasoil and ultra-low sulphur diesel plummeted in October, as the country's conflict with Hamas closed the port of Ashkelon and the Haifa port minimised exports.

Gasoil departures from Haifa were just 6,200t, and there were no loadings of ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD), according to Vortexa. Israel's gasoil exports from the two ports averaged 3,200 t/d in the first nine months of this year, with ULSD departures at 2,700 t/d.

Overall clean and dirty product exports from Israel were 176,300t in October, the lowest for any month on Vortexa records going back to 2016.

Ashkelon has been closed since at least 9 October. The port is a break-bulk hub for Indian Long Range 2 (LR2) tankers carrying diesel and gasoil, so the closure has led to not only a steep reduction in Israeli diesel and gasoil exports, but also a fall in smaller re-exports.

Vortexa data show arrivals of ULSD, gasoil and diesel from Israel in the EU and UK at a five-month low of 35,600t in October. Israeli deliveries dried up completely in the Black Sea countries of Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova, where its diesel and gasoil made up 15pc of supply in the January-September period. This prompted Greece to deliver an exceptional 84,500t into the Black Sea area, a 10-month high.

There are no tankers from Israel signalling for Koper, Slovenia, after Argus tracking shows five shipments of 10ppm diesel, each of around 30,000-35,000t, this year. The most recent arrived on 2 October.

There were no signs of refinery issues limiting Israel's distillate exports in October, and diesel and gasoil may have been kept locally as a consequence of the conflict. Israel imported 70,000t of gasoil in October, according to Vortexa.

Haifa and Ashkelon serve Bazan Group's 197,000 b/d Haifa Bay refinery and Paz Oil's 84,000 b/d Ashdod refinery respectively. Vortexa shows both ports received 4.47mn bl of seaborne crude in October, and a further 1mn bl was unloaded at the southern Red Sea port of Eilat. The Eilat Ashkelon pipeline serves both the Haifa Bay and Ashdod refineries. This is the first crude to arrive at Eilat port since May 2020. Crude for Ashkelon was also loaded ship-to-ship (STS) offshore southern Cyprus in October for delivery to Haifa, according to Argus tracking, including Capsian CPC Blend and Gabonese Gamba.

This appears to be continuing: a tanker containing around 135,000t of Nigerian Bonny Light is alongside the same shuttle tanker that delivered to Haifa last month, again offshore southern Cyprus. Bazan Group was approached for comment on the state of its operations.


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