Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore climbed despite a drop in weekly net imports, official data showed on Thursday, as weaker ship refuelling demand slowed inventory drawdowns in recent days, trade sources said.

Onshore fuel oil stocks climbed 3% to a five-week high of 21.24 million barrels (3.34 million tonnes) in the week ended Feb. 8, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

The uptick emerged despite a decline in weekly net imports, which fell 27% to 509,000 tonnes in the same week.

Demand for marine fuel, also known as bunkers, eased at Singapore in recent days as some shippers held out for a further drop in prices amid softening premiums, traders said.

Cargo premiums for 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil (MFO05-SIN-DIF) have pared gains in recent trading sessions after hitting six-month highs, which have in turn weighed on downstream bunker fuel premiums.

Meanwhile, most of Singapore’s net fuel oil imports came from Malaysia at 221,000 tonnes in the week ended Feb. 8, Enterprise Singapore data showed, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 100,000 tonnes and India at 86,000 tonnes.

Top destinations for fuel oil net exports from Singapore continued to be within Asia. Outflows to China were at 22,000 tonnes, followed by the Philippines at 18,000 tonnes and Bangladesh at 17,000 tonnes.

Source: Reuters