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Singapore fuel oil inventories hit 9-month high as demand ebbs

Singapore’s residual fuel oil inventories jumped 10% to their highest in more than nine months, in the week ended Feb. 19, despite plummeting net import volumes, in the latest sign of sluggish bunker demand in the city-state, official data showed.

– Onshore fuel oil stocks jumped by 2.169 million barrels (about 342,000 tonnes) to 24.231 million barrels, or 3.816 million tonnes from the previous week, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

– This came despite net import volumes falling to a nearly five-month low of 364,000 tonnes, down 54% from the previous week and well below the 2020 weekly average of 877,000 tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.

– Residual fuel stocks were 18% higher, compared with a year-ago period.

– Demand for Singapore bunkers has fallen this month, weighed down by seasonally weaker demand during the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays that has been compounded by slowing shipping activity as a result of the spread of the coronavirus.

– A.P. Moller-Maersk, world’s biggest container shipping firm, said on Thursday the coronavirus outbreak would weigh on earnings this year and it expected a weak start to the year because factories in China were closed for longer than usual after the Chinese New Year holiday.

– Singapore’s fuel oil net exports to Hong Kong topped the list for the week at 99,000 tonnes, followed by South Korea with 96,000 tonnes, India with 66,000 tonnes and the Philippines with 44,000 tonnes.

– The largest net imports into Singapore were Malaysia’s 202,000 tonnes, followed by Russia with 175,000 tonnes, Belgium with 98,000 tonnes and Brazil with 83,000 tonnes.

– Weekly imports from Russia were at five-week high.

– Separately, fuel oil inventories stored in floating storage around the Singapore hub slipped 1% to 4.496 million tonnes, in the week ended Wednesday, of which low-sulphur fuel oil volumes were at 3.917 million tonnes, up by 2% from the previous week, according to data intelligence firm Kpler.

   
 Feb 19                                   Total Imports     Total        Net
                                                           Exports    Imports 
 Fuel oil (in       ALGERIA                       65,769           0     65,769
 tonnes)                                                              
                    BANGLADESH                         0      30,042    -30,042
                    BELGIUM                       97,925           0     97,925
                    BRAZIL                        83,257           0     83,257
                    CHINA                              0      38,004    -38,004
                    HONG KONG                          0      98,707    -98,707
                    INDIA                              0      65,533    -65,533
                    IRAQ                          49,777           0     49,777
                    KOREA, REP OF                      0      96,443    -96,443
                    MALAYSIA                     349,651     147,419    202,231
                    MYANMAR                            0           0          0
                    PHILIPPINES                        0      43,609    -43,609
                    RUSSIA                       174,764           0    174,764
                    THAILAND                      20,992      50,700    -29,708
                    UNITED ARAB EMIRATES          52,248           0     52,248
                    UNITED STATES                 40,530           0     40,530
                    TOTAL                        934,912     570,455    364,457

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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