Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore rose 9% from the previous week to 20-week highs after net imports extended gains, official data showed.
Onshore fuel oil stocks were at 22.64 million barrels (3.57 million tonnes) in the week ended Feb. 22, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
The uptick came after weekly net imports rose by 25% to 804,000 tonnes in the same week.
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Downstream bunkering demand also remained weak, trade sources said, leading to a milder drawdown in fuel oil inventories.
Singapore’s top net fuel oil import volumes were from Malaysia at 488,000 tonnes, followed by Saudi Arabia at 148,000 tonnes and Brazil at 101,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, top destinations for Singapore’s fuel oil net exports were China at 87,000 tonnes, Philippines at 46,000 tonnes and Hong Kong at 30,000 tonnes.
Total fuel oil supplies to Asia, most of which end up in key trading hub Singapore, are estimated at about 6 million tonnes for February, showed latest assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research this week.
That was higher than the 4.5 to 5.5 million tonnes in January, led by an uptick in arrivals from both the West and the Middle East.
Reflecting ample supplies, spot premiums and margins for low-sulphur fuel oil have come under pressure in recent weeks.
Source: Reuters
