Kuwait's Al Zour refinery has issued a fuel oil sales tender for the first time in more than two months, traders said last week.
Al Zour's low-sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) tenders are closely watched by market participants as the refinery is poised to be a major global LSFO exporter at full capacity.
The refinery issued the tender offering LSFO with a maximum sulfur content of 0.5% for September-loading, said fuel oil traders.
The cargo is expected to load between Sept. 9 and 10, with volume between 120,000 to 140,000 metric tons.
In June, the refinery closed a term tender offering VLSFO for loading between July and December, though spot tenders quietened down after that.
Fuel oil exports from the refinery have eased for a third straight month in August, ship-tracking data from analytics firm Kpler showed.
The drop in exports came despite the start-up of its third and final crude distillation unit in July, which was expected to drive an increase in product exports.
Fuel oil exports from Kuwait were at 360,000 metric tons in August, down from 440,000 metric tons in July, Kpler data showed. Monthly fuel oil exports hit a record high in March this year.
The Al Zour refinery is set to become a massive global exporter for VLSFO, producing up to 220,000 barrels per day at full capacity, equivalent to about 12 million metric tons per year. Of this, 6 to 7 million tons can be exported.
