Singapore residual fuel oil inventories fell 4% in the week ended Aug. 25 to a six-month low amid persistently weak net import volumes, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks fell by 889,000 barrels, or about 140,000 tonnes, to 21.18 million barrels, or 3.34 million tonnes, their lowest since the week to Feb. 24, Enterprise Singapore data showed. O/SING1
While Singapore’s weekly net fuel oil imports were up by 26% from the previous week to 593,000 tonnes, they were below the 2021 weekly average of 687,000 tonnes for a fifth straight week. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.
Compared with a year earlier, residual fuel stocks were 8% lower and below the 2021 weekly average of 23.13 million barrels.
The largest net imports were from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 210,000 tonnes, followed by Malaysia at 207,000 tonnes, Brazil at 96,000 tonnes and Algeria at 74,000 tonnes.
The top net export destinations for Singapore fuel oil were the Philippines at 44,000 tonnes, followed by South Korea at 38,000 tonnes and New Caledonia at 37,000 tonnes.
Fuel oil flows into east Asia, most of which come to Singapore, for August are expected to total between 5 million tonnes to 5.5 million tonnes with 5.2 million tonnes assessed so far, according to Refinitiv Oil Research.
“We expect August arrivals to decline on-month from July’s 5.73 million tonnes, led by a loss of momentum in fuel oil feedstock buying from China and, to a lesser extent, by India and South Korea,” Refinitiv Oil Research said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)