Singapore fuel oil stockpiles dip but hold above 20 mln barrels

By Jeslyn Lerh SINGAPORE, Jan 2 (Reuters) – Singapore onshore fuel oil storage volumes dropped slightly from the previous week but remained well above 20 million barrels amid strong inflows from Russia and the United Arab Emirates, official data showed on Thursday. Residue inventories

were at 20.96 million barrels (3.30 million tons) in the week to Jan. 1, dipping 4% from last week, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. Stockpiles have retreated from a multi-year high seen two weeks ago, but remained above 2024’s average inventory level of 19.7 million barrels a week, calculations based on the data showed. Most of the imports in the week to Jan. 1 came from Russia and the UAE, excluding cargo movements from Malaysia. High inventories have capped recovery in Asia’s fuel oil market, with premiums for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) hovering below $2 per metric ton by end-2024.

Meanwhile, fuel oil exports from Singapore were mostly headed for China as in the previous week, according to the Enterprise Singapore data. Week to Jan. 1, Fuel oil (in Total Total Net metric tons) Imports Exports Imports ALGERIA 12,395 0 12,395 BRAZIL 54,850 0 54,850 CHINA 0 50,000 -50,000 INDIA 52,518 141 52,378 INDONESIA 50,604 5,245 45,359 IRAQ 136,898 0 136,898 KOREA 13,702 0 13,702 KUWAIT 41,309 0 41,309 MALAYSIA 307,113 45,332 261,781 NEPAL 0 41 -41 RUSSIA 385,908 0 385,908 SAUDI ARABIA 102,206 0 102,206 TAIWAN 0 0 0 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 187,416 0 187,416 UNITED KINGDOM 0 0 0 UNITED STATES 34,402 0 34,402 VIETNAM 5,657 0 5,657 TOTAL 1,384,979 100,759 1,284,220 (Data from Enterprise Singapore) (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Eileen Soreng)