Singapore fuel oil stockpiles inch up; net imports extend climb

Onshore fuel oil stockpiles at key trading and storage hub Singapore edged up to a two-week high, with net imports recovering for a second straight week.

Inventories inched 1.6% higher to 19.60 million barrels (3.09 million metric tons) in the week ended July 3, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

Net imports of fuel oil, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, climbed 34.5% week-on-week to about 927,000 tons.

Top cargo origins were Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, excluding storage movements from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, top destinations for fuel oil outflows from Singapore’s onshore tanks were China, Hong Kong and Australia.

Current inventory levels remained ample to meet market demand, said industry sources, with price benchmarks remaining capped in recent trading sessions.

Spot premiums for the high-sulphur market FO380-SIN-DIF eased below $4 a ton this week, while low-sulphur premiums MFO05-SIN-DIF held rangebound below $5 a ton.

Cargo inflows from the West to East Asia, including Russian volumes, are expected to reach about 3 million tons for July, slightly higher than June, calculations based on LSEG ship-tracking data showed this week.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sohini Goswami)