Singapore’s middle distillates inventories rebounded to a three-week high after falling for three consecutive weeks, official data showed on Thursday.

Stockpiles of diesel/gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene at key oil storage hub Singapore were at 10.742 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 2, up from 9.807 million barrels in the previous week, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

Net exports of diesel/gasoil surged by 18 times this week, as total exports grew by more than four times from the previous week.

Usual regional suspects such as Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia were the top contributors, while shipments from China remained absent.

China’s diesel exports are expected to stay thin going forward, largely due to refinery run cuts because of the persistently weak price environment, in addition to some refinery turnarounds, LSEG Oil Research said in a report.

The country’s bulk of exports will comprise mainly of jet-kero flows due to continued growth in the aviation sector and more attractive export margins, while refiners could also push out more gasoline supplies as export economics improve, LSEG added.

Meanwhile, total diesel/gasoil imports increased more than 100% week-on-week, with the bulk of volumes headed to Saudi Arabia.

Arabian Gulf and West Coast Indian diesel cargoes “continue to flow eastwards”, as freight rates for Middle Eastern tankers heading to Europe have increased and for East-bound shipments decreased, said Sparta Commodities analyst James Noel-Beswick.

On the jet fuel/kerosene front, net exports dropped nearly 80% week-on-week, as total imports fell at a faster pace than total exports.

Total imports of the aviation fuel decreased nearly 100%, as volumes from Australia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia were absent, adding to the decline.

Total exports fell about 84% week-on-week, with volumes from Australia nearly negligible.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Shreya Biswas)