Residual fuel oil stocks fell at key trading hub Singapore following two weeks of builds, though an influx of arrivals is expected to cap inventory declines going ahead, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks eased 11% to 18.35 million barrels (2.89 million metric tons) in the week to July 12, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
Meanwhile, weekly net imports, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, more than doubled week-on-week at 1.05 million metric tons.
Brazil was the top origin of Singapore’s fuel oil imports in the week, with net import volumes at 205,000 metric tons. Brazillian fuel oil imports to Singapore are expected to hit three-month highs in July, data from shipping analytics firm Kpler showed.
Another top origin for fuel oil imports was Kuwait, with a net import volume of 182,000 metric tons. Kuwait’s Al Zour refinery is on track to be a major global exporter of low-sulphur fuel oil, now that it has ramped up its third and final crude distillation unit.
The top destination for fuel oil exports out of Singapore was China with volumes of 158,000 metric tons in the week. Other top destinations were Bangladesh and Australia.
Amid the influx in imports, Singapore’s low-sulphur fuel oil market has slumped in recent sessions, with cash differentials narrowing to small single-digit premiums over Singapore quotes this week.
Source: Reuters reporting by Jeslyn Lerh and edited by Sohini Goswami
