SINGAPORE: Asia's 380-cst prompt time spread was steady on Thursday, hovering near a three-year high hit earlier in the week, as near-term fundamentals remained supportive.
This followed official data showing Singapore fuel oil stocks drop to a nine-year low this week.
Bullish fundamentals propped up Asia's fuel oil market over the summer months as strong demand, particularly in the Middle East, and lower output contributed to low arbitrage volumes into the Singapore hub.
However, some trade sources said they expected supplies into Singapore to gradually normalise from September onwards as utility demand subsides after the scorching summer.
The 380-cst Aug/Sept time spread was about $9.75 a tonne on Thursday, while the following Sept/Oct time spread was at a narrower premium of about $5.80 a tonne, according to broker sources.
Cash premiums for 380-cst cargoes were also lower on Thursday as some suppliers lowered their offers for cargoes of the fuel in comparison with the previous session. <FO380-SIN-DIF>
INVENTORIES
- Singapore's weekly onshore fuel oil inventories continued to shrink after falling 1.397 million barrels (about 209,000 tonnes) to 14.799 million barrels (2.209 million tonnes) in the week ended Aug. 1, official data showed on Thursday.
- Residual fuel stocks are now at their lowest since July 2009 after falling 8.6 percent in the week ended Aug. 1, the data showed.
- The shrinking fuel oil stocks in Singapore came as no surprise to trade sources, which pointed to months of below-average arbitrage resupplies into Singapore as cargoes were diverted to the Middle East to meet strong seasonal demand.
- Fuel oil imports into Singapore hit 693,000 tonnes, their lowest in more than six months, in the week ended Aug. 1, the data showed.
- Net fuel oil imports into Singapore in the week ended Aug. 1 were at 244,000 tonnes compared with a 2018 average of 760,000 tonnes per week.
- Compared with a year ago, the latest onshore fuel oil inventories were 36 percent lower.
- Singapore's net exports of fuel oil to Hong Kong topped the week ended Aug. 1 at 135,000 tonnes, followed by Bangladesh at 61,000 tonnes and Guam at 39,000 tonnes.
- The largest net imports into Singapore originated from Colombia at 162,000 tonnes, followed by Indonesia at 95,000 tonnes, Malaysia at 83,000 tonnes and Saudi Arabia at 80,000 tonnes.
- Fuel oil imports into Singapore in the week ended Aug. 1 from Iraq were absent for the first time since early-May, while imports from the Netherlands were absent for a second consecutive week.
- In the United States, fuel oil inventories climbed for a third straight week to 28.72 million barrels in the week ended July 27, up 1.2 percent from the previous week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed last week.
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