ARA independent product stocks rise

London, 14 June (Argus) — Oil products held in independent storage tanks in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading hub climbed by just over 7pc week-on-week to reach 5.7mn t today, marking a two-month high.

The increase in total stocks was largely a result of a substantial gain in fuel oil inventories, which were up by nearly a third week-on-week. No tankers loaded the product from Rotterdam during the period, keeping northwest Europe oversupplied. But fuel oil exports are likely to rebound as shipping activity has picked up in northwest Europe, with tankers booked to Asia-Pacific and the Mideast Gulf. Two Singapore-bound very large crude carriers (VLCCs) have arrived in Rotterdam to start loading fuel oil later this month.

Diesel stocks rose slightly because of comparatively high imports, particularly from the Baltic Sea. The product also arrived from Poland and the Mideast Gulf, while some diesel was shipped form the ARA region to France, the UK and west Africa. Stocks are under pressure from firm demand, which is likely to tighten the market later this month.

Gasoline stocks increased by 5pc week-on-week. The European gasoline market remains oversupplied as an increase in US demand was offset by weak buying interest from west Africa and Asia-Pacific. Arbitrages on most long-haul export routes were largely unviable, putting pressure on gasoline prices in the ARA region. European gasoline output remained high, contributing to the increase in stocks. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean market remains tight, drawing product from the north.

Jet fuel stocks declined marginally during the past week despite rising exports from the Mideast Gulf, as tankers carrying jet fuel arrived into northwest European ports outside the ARA hub. The region is set to receive at least 290,000t of jet fuel from east of Suez during the week to 16 June, compared with 145,000t a week earlier.

Naphtha stocks fell by nearly 6pc, after having been buoyed the prior week by cargoes arriving from the US Gulf Coast. Demand for light virgin naphtha from European gasoline blenders remains weak and is largely covered by local supplies. Last week, tanker bookings emerging with Asia-Pacific discharge options reached 340,000t, the highest weekly total since late April. The four cargoes are due to load between 20-27 June.

Reporter: Thomas Warner

Patrick

Patrick Kulsen is managing director at PJK International and Downstream/PortStorage Group, collectively belonging to the Insights Global brand. He currently has the role of general manager and senior consultant. In 2006, Patrick joined PJK as the second person alongside his father Pieter Kulsen. Together with his father he managed to grow the company to its current form. In 2013, he officially acquired the company.

Curiosity to understand commodity industries and the ambition to grow the business are his main professional drives. His broad academic and technical education highlights this intrinsic motivation to look at subjects from all angles, to innovate and to seek intellectual challenges.  

As general manager, Patrick is responsible for daily and long term business of the whole group. After integrating and reorganizing Downstream/PortStorage Group and PJK into one coherent business, the accelerated growth of the new company is now his main focus.

For  clients which are active in oil trading, oil products/chemicals distribution and  tank storage, Patrick heads market research and consultancy projects. Recent projects focused mainly on market and commercial Due Diligence of tank terminal assets up for sale.

Patrick has degrees in Quantitative Finance (MSc.), Industrial Engineering (MSc.) and Mechanical Engineering (B).

Kim

Kim Kulsen is responsible for the finance department, furthermore she plays a partial role in human resources and has many general responsibilities at Insights Global.

She is part of the team since 2010. At that time, the team consisted of Pieter Kulsen and Patrick Kulsen. Kim previously worked at an intermediary specialized in the mortgage and insurance sector. Once she decided to pursue her career within the family business she started in Patrick’s former bedroom responsible for the administration and some online marketing activities.

The company expanded one year later and they moved to an office building in Breda. She was so happy to have more colleagues again.

She loves to work within a dynamic work environment. And her goal is to create a good overview and structure within the company. Mainly to provide a comfortable and good work environment for the Insights Global team. She believes that as a team we can do more.

In her free time she spends a lot of time with her family, she has 3 children. She likes to run with friends and she likes to go to the gym. 

Lars

Lars is working within Insights Global since January 2015. Starting as a market analyst covering the barge freight rate markets, he has overseen the Operations team since 2018 and starting as Research & Consultancy Manager in 2022, covering fields of expertise on market and data gathering, analysis providing in depth insights for a wide range of clients.

His key objectives include overseeing the transparent, unbiased and reliable assessments of the various services and products and to get the most out of the team. He also overlooks the delivery of consultancy assignments and reports.

Lars holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Management of Rotterdam School of Management and has followed various courses in Data and Business analytics, which he has put to use to support Insight Global in its transformation to a data-driven organization.

Prior to working at Insights Global, he has been working as trainee at an European vegetable oil refiner. In his spare time, Lars provides chess trainings to youth players and tries to get in the snow and on the ski slopes as often as possible.

Ricardo

Ricardo is an in-house online marketing expert. He is co-responsible for TankTerminals.com frontend marketing, email marketing, digital analytics and media kit management; among other internal data management tasks.

Onboard in the company for 9 years, he has had an active role in consolidating the company’s industry-known newsletter, growing and segmenting the email lists, structuring a web analytics measurement model and writing content for different online channels.

As a freelance online marketer, he has helped his clients achieve better conversion rates across multiple industries (Oil & Gas, Translations, Ecology, TV Entertainment, E-Learning, Architecture, Advertisement and more).

Always working from remote, he also manages to create solid teamwork relationships to meet the goals set by his clients.

Since graduating as Marketing professional (Universidad del Valle de México) in 2005, he has continuously looked for marketing-specialized studies; which includes a Postgraduate Degree in Strategic Planning and Creativity, granted with a scholarship by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2007). In 2008, he concluded an Online Marketing Degree in the Istituto Europeo di Design (Madrid). Finally, in 2014 and 2017 he finalized two, highly specialized, online marketing degrees of Web Analytics (Market Motive) and Qualitative Research (Ask Method Company).