Singapore fuel oil stocks rise as exports crash, imports from Malaysia and Bahamas hit record highs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's residual fuel oil inventories climbed 3pc in the week to Aug. 5 as export volumes plummeted to a near four-month low, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks rose 642,000 barrels, or about 101,000 tonnes, to a three-week high of 24.234 million barrels, or 3.816 million tonnes, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

Residual fuel stocks were up 11pc from a year earlier.

Net import volumes were up 96pc from the previous week to a five-month high of 1.412 million tonnes, well above the 2020, weekly average of 694,000 tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.

The net import volumes were boosted by falling exports which declined to 97,000 tonnes during the week.

This compared to the 2020 weekly average of 272,000 tonnes in exports.

Singapore's exports to China, a typical importer of fuel oil, have fallen this year as China increased its output of residual fuels following new government tax and export rules.

Singapore's only fuel oil net exports in the week to Aug. 5 went to Hong Kong at 38,000 tonnes and 34,000 tonnes to Bangladesh.

The largest net imports into Singapore were from Malaysia at 699,000 tonnes, followed by Bahamas with 164,000 tonnes, Brazil with 158,000 tonnes and the United Arab Emirates with 153,000 tonnes.

Net imports from Malaysia and Bahamas for the week were at their highest since at least end-2015, or as far as available data shows.

Imports from Malaysia were boosted by suppliers moving fuel oil cargoes from floating storage in Malaysian waters into Singapore onshore tanks, trade sources said.