Singapore fuel oil stocks drop despite net imports rising to over 1-year high

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Despite a surge in net import volumes, Singapore residual fuel oil inventories dropped 11% in the week ended Sept. 15, giving up most of the previous weeks' sharp gains, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks fell by 2.85 million barrels, or about 448,000 tonnes, to a two-week low of 21.3 million barrels, or 3.35 million tonnes, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

The residual fuel stocks were on par with year-ago levels but were below the 2021 weekly average of 23.05 million barrels.

In the week to Sept. 8, fuel oil stockpiles jumped 17% to a seven-week high of 24.15 million barrels, or 3.8 million tonnes.

The latest inventories declines came despite a near threefold increase in Singapore's weekly net import volumes, which surged to a more than one-year high of 1.2 million tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.

By comparison, Singapore's weekly fuel oil net imports averaged 690,000 tonnes so far in 2021.

The largest net imports were from Malaysia at 264,400 tonnes, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 264,000 tonnes and 148,000 tonnes each from Denmark and Malta.

Singapore fuel oil net imports from Denmark were at their highest in at least six years, or as far as available records go, while those from Malta and the UAE were at their highest since November 2018 and December 2019, respectively.

The top net export destinations for Singapore fuel oil were Bangladesh at 50,000 tonnes, followed by Thailand at 10,000 tonnes and Indonesia at 500 tonnes.

Fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which come to Singapore, were expected between 4.5 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes in September compared with 4.75 million tonnes in August, according to Refinitiv Oil Research.

"The steady (to) higher inflows may alleviate ongoing supply tightness in Asia, with timespreads easing from week-ago levels," Refinitiv Oil Research said.

"Supply tightness for fuel oil is seen easing slightly due to dampening demand for Black Sea straight-run barrels by (U.S. Gulf) refineries, who are struggling to resume production in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida."

Sept 15, fuel oil (in tonnes) Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports

BAHAMAS 38,946 0 38,946

BANGLADESH 0 49,967 -49,967

CHINA 31,055 0 31,055

DENMARK 147,587 0 147,587

ESTONIA 54,368 0 54,368

INDIA 65,495 259 65,236

INDONESIA 30,009 30,518 -509

IRAQ 116,108 0 116,108

MALAYSIA 323,682 59,324 264,358

MALTA 147,542 0 147,542

PHILIPPINES 0 30 -30

RUSSIA 130,237 0 130,237

TAIWAN 0 0 0

THAILAND 0 9,952 -9,952

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 263,984 0 263,984

UNITED STATES 1 0 1

TOTAL 1,349,014 150,049 1,198,965

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Aditya Soni)