Onshore fuel oil stockpiles in Singapore extended gains for a third week, hitting their highest in more than six months, data showed on Thursday.

Residual fuel inventories rose to 24.71 million barrels (about 3.89 million metric tons) in the week to July 9, up 5.7% from the previous week, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

The uptick was supported by stronger imports, which exceeded 1 million tons in the week, up 23% week-on-week.

Top origins for imports included Brazil and the United States, excluding inter-regional movements from storage hub Malaysia.

Meanwhile, fuel oil exports out of Singapore tanks continued heading mostly to China due to higher demand from importers following a recent slide in high-sulphur cracks.

Persistently high inventories for fuel oil have weighed on price benchmarks in recent weeks.

The spot market differential for high-sulphur fuel remained steadily in discounts, while the differential for low-sulphur fuel has been logging smaller premiums recently.

Source: Reuters