Jebel Ali oil port reopens, weather improves

The UAE reopened its Jebel Ali Port after halting operations for a few hours on Monday morning due to bad weather, shipping sources said.

"The port has reopened...the visibility is much better now," the source said.

Jebel Ali is a key export terminal for refined petroleum products such as motor gasoline, aviation fuel and diesel.

The terminal had also closed on Sunday morning but reopened later in the day as weather conditions improved.

Oil exports from Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura -- the world's largest offshore oil facility -- continued as normal despite poor weather, a port source said.

'So far everything is running normal, if the weather gets bad special arrangements will be made to guide vessels from the terminal...but it must get very bad before they shut the terminal,' a port source based at Ras Tanura said.

Ras Tanura has the capacity to load between 5.5 million and 6 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil.

Qatar's three main ports remained open although bad weather was expected. 'We are expecting the ports to shut because the forecasts show a sand storm coming our way,' said a shipping source. - Reuters