Singapore saw its residual fuel oil stockpiles drop to the lowest level in three weeks and ended five weeks in a row of builds due to the fall in net import volumes.
In the week to November 10, Singapore’s onshore fuel oil inventories plunged by 570,000 barrels or 90,000 tonnes to 21.75 million barrels or 3.43 million tonnes, the lowest in three weeks. According to Enterprise Singapore, the stock was lower by 6% year-on-year but still higher than this year’s weekly average of 22.73 million barrels.
The country’s weekly net import volumes hit the lowest in a month at 583,000 tonnes, down by 13% week-per-week. Year-to-date, fuel oil net imports stood at an average of 679,000 tonnes/week.
According to some trade sources, lower inventories might be pushed by the companies bunkering demand amid shorter waiting times for bunker deliveries.
Singapore’s biggest net imports came from the UAE in the week at 147,000 tonnes, followed by Saudi Arabia at 111,000 tonnes which were the highest in almost two years, Australia at 103,000 tonnes which were the highest in a year, and Malaysia at 100,000 tonnes.
Singapore’s top net export destinations in the period were the US at 61,000 tonnes, followed by Bangladesh at 49,000 tonnes and the Philippines at 30,000 tonnes.
Looking forward, in November, fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which come to Singapore, were expected between 5.5 million tonnes and 6 million tonnes. In comparison, last month the number was at 6.04 million tonnes.
According to the latest assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research, the demand for feedstocks in China would likely go down following the new batch of crude import quotas issued by Beijing.
