Yemen's Aden Refinery Company (ARC) has resumed imports of oil products after a hiatus of nearly six months, industry sources said.

 

The imports are expected to boost oil product margins in Asia at a time when several episodes of refinery maintenance, both planned and unplanned, have cut supplies, traders said.

 

In April, Aden Refinery declared force majeure on its oil imports and exports and shut its 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery as the civil war escalated.

 

Trader Gunvor has shipped 35,000 tonnes of gasoline to Aden with the vessel carrying the cargo now anchored at the port, one of the sources close to the matter said.

 

The ship Hong Ze Hu, with a deadweight tonnage (dwt) of 73,972 and carrying a clean oil products cargo is moored at Aden, according to Reuters chartering and shiptracking data. The cargo was loaded last week from Fujairah after being chartered by Clearlake shipping, a subsidiary of Gunvor, the data showed.

 

Aden Refinery is expected to issue a tender soon to import 60,000 tonnes of gasoil, with traders already indicating interest to ship cargoes to Aden, the sources said.

 

Trader Vitol tried to provisionally book the vessels Androussa and Lake Trout to ship gasoil from Fujairah to Aden in the first half of October, but both fixtures have been cancelled, one of the sources said.

 

This could not be confirmed with Vitol, however.

 

Still, many shipping companies are unwilling to risk their vessels in Aden, traders said.

 

"Some shipowners are still reluctant to go to Aden, and even if they are willing, are being selective and asking for high freight rates," one of the traders said.

 

Aden Refinery resumed operations at its refinery late last month, and is now running it at 75,000 bpd or about half its capacity, the first source said. 

 

The company also resumed jet fuel exports in September, making offers from inventory stored from before the war, a second source said.

 

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim Arab states launched a military campaign in Yemen in March to drive back Houthi forces and restore a government which fled into exile.

 

Islamic State suicide bombers killed 22 people in attacks on Yemen's government and its Gulf Arab coalition ally in Aden and on a Houthi-run mosque in the capital, Sanaa, the jihadist group and state media said. -- Reuters