Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore climbed by 7% week-on-week to hit a six-week high amid a rise in weekly net imports, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks were at 21.40 million barrels (3.37 million tonnes) in the week ended Dec. 21, climbing to a six-week high, Enterprise Singapore data showed.
The build in weekly inventory levels came in line with an uptick in net fuel oil imports, which rose by 8% to 494,000 tonnes.
Top net fuel oil import volumes into Singapore continued to come from Malaysia at 197,000 tonnes, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 148,000 tonnes, and Russia at 92,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, top destinations for fuel oil net exports out of Singapore were China at 100,000 tonnes, Hong Kong at 84,000 tonnes and the United States at 31,000 tonnes, the Enterprise Singapore data showed.
December fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which are bound for Singapore, are notionally assessed at a 14-month high of 5.86 million metric tonnes (mt), up 40% on-month, propped by 22-month high West arbitrage flows comprising of mostly Russia-origin barrels, Refinitiv Oil Research said this week.
