Asia Fuel Oil: Markets ease as Singapore inventories jump despite low net imports

SINGAPORE: Asia’s residual fuel markets eased on Thursday with cash premiums, time spreads and refining margins for both 0.5% very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) slipping from their respective highs hit in the previous session.

This came as data showed Singapore fuel oil stocks rebounded sharply from multi-month lows, easing concerns of supply shortages.

The Singapore inventories jumped 17% in the week ended Sept. 8, climbing away from a more-than six-month low in the previous week, despite falling net import volumes, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks surged by 3.45 barrels, or about 543,000 tonnes, to a seven-week high of 24.15 million barrels, or 3.8 million tonnes, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

That came despite a 19% drop in Singapore’s weekly net import volumes, which fell to a six-week low of 434,000 tonnes, or about 2.76 million barrels. The net imports were below the 2021 weekly average of 676,000 tonnes for the seventh straight week. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.

Compared with a year earlier, residual fuel stocks were 16% higher and above the 2021 weekly average of 23.09 million barrels.

The largest net imports were from Malaysia at 172,000 tonnes, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 112,000 tonnes, Taiwan at 92,000 tonnes and the United States at 82,000 tonnes.

Singapore fuel oil net imports from Taiwan were at their highest since December 2017.

The top net export destinations for Singapore fuel oil were Saudi Arabia at 100,000 tonnes, a three-week high, followed by Hong Kong at 36,000 tonnes and Bangladesh at 20,000 tonnes.

Singapore fuel oil exports to Saudi Arabia have totalled 578,000 tonnes so far this year, compared with 1.56 million tonnes in 2020.

No VLSFO or HSFO cargo trades were reported in the Singapore trading window. Kuwait’s KPC bought a 80,000-tonne cargo of 380-cst HSFO for Oct. 2-8 delivery from ATC at an unknown price level.

Turkey’s natural gas distributor BOTAS, Arkas Bunkering and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation have signed an agreement to cooperate in the use of liquefied natural gas as bunker fuel on vessels, they said in a statement on Wednesday.