Singapore fuel oil stockpiles rebound after recent declines

SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Onshore fuel oil stockpiles in Singapore rebounded after three weeks of drawdown, official data showed on Thursday, led by higher arbitrage imports. Inventories for residual fuels climbed to 24.56 million barrels (about 3.87 million metric tons) in the week to October 1, up 7.7% from the previous week, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Fuel oil imports exceeded 1.1 million tons, up 56% week-on-week. Brazil, Russia and Nigeria were the top supply origins for the week. Exports also climbed, breaching 540,000 tons, up 63% week-on-week. China continued to be the top destination for the outflows, as with last week. Asia received heavy supplies in September, which are likely to add to the inventories in October, industry sources said. According to LSEG Oil Research, September fuel oil arrivals in East Asia totalled near 6 million tons, edging higher month-on-month, led by an uptick in western arbitrage arrivals as well as Middle Eastern volumes. Spot differentials for fuel oil have inched higher in recent sessions, though the front-month market structure for 0.5% low-sulphur fuel oil remained in contango, indicative of ample prompt supply. Week to Oct. 1, Fuel oil (in Total Total Net metric tons) Imports Exports Imports BAHRAIN 38,274 0 38,274 BANGLADESH 0 30,063 -30,063 BRAZIL 203,438 0 203,438 CHINA 0 270,347 -270,347 FRANCE 84,029 0 84,029 INDIA 20 92 -72 INDONESIA 66,501 0 66,501 ITALY 66,051 0 66,051 JAPAN 21,274 0 21,274 KOREA 21,985 97,280 -75,294 MALAYSIA 168,088 119,481 48,608 NETHERLANDS 33,576 0 33,576 NIGERIA 112,334 0 112,334 PAKISTAN 50,861 0 50,861 RUSSIA 175,121 0 175,121 SAUDI ARABIA 2,964 0 2,964 TAIWAN 50,872 0 50,872 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 72,681 0 72,681 UNITED STATES 0 25,025 -25,025 TOTAL 1,168,069 542,287 625,782 (Data from Enterprise Singapore) (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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