Onshore inventories of residual fuel rose to nearly five-month highs at key trade hub Singapore this week, data showed on Thursday.

Fuel oil stocks STKRS-SIN were at 22.31 million barrels (3.51 million metric tons) in the week to Jan. 3, up 5.8% week-on-week, showed latest Enterprise Singapore data.
Exports flowing out of Singapore totalled about 197,000 tons, declining for a second straight week. Top three export destinations included China, South Korea and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, most of the imports recorded in Singapore’s onshore tankage came from the key blending and storage hub of Malaysia.
Direct imports from the West and the Middle East dropped to nearly zero this week, after robust inflows in the previous weeks.

The inventory build also came against the backdrop of lukewarm demand for marine bunkers in the past days, based on traders.
Prompt intermonth price spreads for 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil held stable from last week, at about $6 to $7 a ton. Intermonth spreads are an indicator for market backwardation and affects storage economics.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)