By Jeslyn Lerh
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore rose for a second consecutive week as weekly net imports continued to firm, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks added 2% to 20.31 million barrels (3.20 million tonnes) during the week ended Dec. 7, rising to a three-week high, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
The build in weekly inventory levels came amid an uptick in net fuel oil imports, which gained 18% week-on-week to 516,000 tonnes.
Top net import volumes continued to come from Malaysia at 362,000 tonnes, as with the previous weeks. This was followed by Brazil at 160,000 tonnes and the United Arab Emirates at 138,000 tonnes.
Arbitrage fuel oil supplies have been consistently flowing into the wider Asia region, while exporters within Asia have also offered regular supply volumes in December-loading tenders.
Meanwhile, top destinations for fuel oil net exports were South Korea at 90,000 tonnes, China at 78,000 tonnes and Bangladesh at 21,000 tonnes, the Enterprise Singapore data showed.
Spot fuel oil cash differentials in Singapore have come under pressure in recent sessions amid steady arrivals and inventory builds.
The 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil cash differentials have trended lower since end-November, while the 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil cash differentials have been trapped in a tight range over the same period.
Dec 8, Fuel oil (in tonnes) Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports
BANGLADESH 0 20,968 -20,968
BRAZIL 160,320 0 160,320
CHINA 33,356 110,925 -77,569
CONGO 31,888 0 31,888
HONG KONG 0 16,499 -16,499
INDIA 0 181 -181
INDONESIA 10,787 1 10,787
ITALY 30,802 0 30,802
KOREA 0 89,988 -89,988
MALAYSIA 418,707 56,852 361,856
NEPAL 0 126 -126
PHILIPPINES 0 15,975 -15,975
SRI LANKA 0 0 0
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 138,458 0 138,458
VIET NAM 15,526 12,470 3,056
TOTAL 839,846 323,985 515,861
(Data from Enterprise Singapore)
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
