Singapore fuel oil stocks slip; Brazil overtakes Malaysia as top net supplier

Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore fell for a second consecutive week, while Brazil overtook Malaysia as the top net supplier to Singapore for the week.

Onshore fuel oil stocks eased by 3% to 20.19 million barrels (3.18 million tonnes) in the week ended Jan. 18, extending to a five-week low, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

The fall in inventories came amid a decline in weekly net imports, which slumped by 14% to 615,000 tonnes in the same week.

The biggest net fuel oil import volumes into Singapore were from Brazil in the week ended Jan. 18, surpassing Malaysia’s which were at 91,000 tonnes. This was followed by Algeria at 88,000 tonnes.

Asia continues to receive heavy arbitrage arrivals from the West, which have struck a 22-month high of 2.98 million tonnes this month, latest assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research showed.
Meanwhile, top destinations for fuel oil net exports from Singapore were Hong Kong at 30,000 tonnes, Kenya at 26,000 tonnes, and Mauritius at 9,000 tonnes.
Source: Reuters