Weekly residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore fell for a sixth consecutive week, dipping underneath six-month lows, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks declined to 19.17 million barrels (3.02 million tonnes) in the week to May 10, based on Enterprise Singapore data.

This came despite a rebound in weekly net fuel oil imports, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, which rose 94% week-on-week to 540,000 tonnes.

However, weekly net fuel oil imports still averaged lower in May at 453,000 tonnes a week, compared with 578,000 tonnes a week in April, based on the data.

Indonesia became the top origin for Singapore’s fuel oil imports this week, with net imports from the country hitting 173,000 tonnes.

This was followed by Iraq at 141,000 tonnes and the United Arab Emirates at 136,000 tonnes.

Meanwhile, most fuel oil exports out of Singapore ended up in South Korea, with net exports at 90,000 tonnes. This was followed by Bangladesh at 82,000 tonnes and China at 38,000 tonnes.

The East of Suez region is expected to receive less fuel oil supplies in May compared to April, based on Refinitiv Oil Research this week.

May fuel oil arrivals to East Asia were pegged at 4.6 million tonnes, easing from 5.4 million tonnes in April, latest Refinitiv assessments showed.

Spot cash premium for 0.5% low sulphur fuel oil has breached $10 a tonne in May so far, compared with single-digit premiums seen in April.

Source: Reuters reported by Jeslyn Lerh and edited by Janane Venkatraman