SINGAPORE: Singapore residual fuel oil inventories rose 6% in the week to Jan. 12, climbing further away from multi-month lows at the end of 2021 despite a dip in weekly net import volumes, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks rose by 1.29 million barrels, or about 202,000 tonnes, to a seven-week high of 22.34 million barrels, or 3.32 million tonnes, in the week to Wednesday, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
The increase helped lift residual fuel inventories further away from a three-month low of 19.56 million barrels in the week to Dec. 29.
The weekly inventories, however, were steady from year-ago levels and slightly below the 2021 weekly average of 22.48 million barrels.
Singapore fuel oil net imports were at a two-week low of 786,000 tonnes in the week to Wednesday, down 19% from the previous week but above the 2021 weekly average of 660,000 tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.
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The largest net imports were from the floating storage hub of Malaysia at 310,000 tonnes, followed by Brazil at 206,000 tonnes and 67,000 tonnes each from Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The top net export destinations for Singapore fuel oil were Japan at 58,000 tonnes, followed by New Caledonia at 41,000 tonnes and Papua New Guinea at 20,000 tonnes.
Fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which come to Singapore, are expected between 4 million tonnes and 4.5 million tonnes in January, compared with the previous month's 4.4 million tonnes, the latest assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research showed.
"The lower arrivals are mainly due to lesser inflows from the Middle East so far, with the downside limited by higher West Arb arrivals," said Refinitiv analysts, adding that regional intra-Asia supply was also weak as north Asian exporters withheld supplies for domestic usage due to robust utility demand.
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