SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore residual fuel oil inventories climbed to a 19-week high despite a dip in weekly net import volumes, official data showed on Thursday, as the Asian market remained awash with supply.
Fuel oil inventories rose for three consecutive weeks, weighing further on bearish market sentiment amid the recent slump in fuel oil cash premiums.
The inventories rose 7% to 22.67 million barrels (3.57 million tonnes) in the week ended Aug. 31, Enterprise Singapore data showed. [O/SING1]
“The stocks are supported by higher Russian fuel oil flows to markets in the East, away from the West amid mounting sanctions, as well as increased regional refinery turnarounds and slowing gasoline demand which have freed up blendstock supply for export,” said Roslan Khasawneh, senior fuel oil analyst at oil analytics firm Vortexa.
Singapore’s weekly net fuel oil import volumes dipped 2% week-on-week to 784,000 tonnes, but averaged higher from last month. Weekly net import volumes averaged 707,000 tonnes last month, climbing from 526,000 tonnes in July, the data showed.
The largest net imports came from Malaysia at 254,000 tonnes, followed by Brazil at 138,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, the top net export destination for Singapore fuel oil was Bangladesh at 70,000 tonnes, followed by the United States at 65,000 tonnes.
Total fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which come to Singapore, were at about 5.05 million tonnes for August, compared with 3.89 million tonnes in July, according to latest assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research.
Higher regional Asian supplies and an influx in Western arbitrage barrels have weighed sharply on the fuel oil market in recent weeks, with premiums for very low sulphur fuel oil tumbling by more than 90% through August.
Aug 31, Fuel oil Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports
(in tonnes)
ALGERIA 80,308 0 80,308
AUSTRALIA 44,760 0 44,760
BANGLADESH 0 70,475 -70,475
BRAZIL 137,574 0 137,574
BRUNEI 5,673 0 5,673
CHINA 0 39,159 -39,159
DENMARK 59,919 0 59,919
FRANCE 33,870 0 33,870
GUAM 0 26,398 -26,398
HONG KONG 0 10,969 -10,969
INDIA 99,386 0 99,386
INDONESIA 27,456 3 27,452
JAPAN 105,979 11 105,968
KAZAKHSTAN 27,572 0 27,572
KENYA 0 9,298 -9,298
KOREA, REP OF 2,280 0 2,280
MADAGASCAR 0 8,800 -8,800
MALAYSIA 344,784 90,646 254,138
MALTA 14,388 0 14,388
NEPAL 0 234 -234
PHILIPPINES 0 46,169 -46,169
SAUDI ARABIA 0 17,949 -17,949
SPAIN 14,844 0 14,844
TAIWAN 34,821 0 34,821
THAILAND 35,346 0 35,346
UNITED ARAB 94,721 0 94,721
EMIRATES
UNITED KINGDOM 4,886 0 4,886
UNITED STATES 0 64,903 -64,903
TOTAL 1,168,568 385,014 783,553
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
