Weekly residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore fell for a seventh consecutive week, sliding to nine-month lows, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks fell to 17.49 million barrels (2.75 million tonnes) in the week to May 24, based on Enterprise Singapore data. The weekly inventory level was last lower in August 2022.

Weekly net fuel oil imports, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, fell 21% week-on-week to 427,000 tonnes.

Malaysia was the top origin for Singapore’s fuel oil imports this week, with net import volumes hitting 308,000 tonnes.

This was followed by the United Arab Emirates at 100,000 tonnes. Middle Eastern supplies to East Asia have firmed month on month in May, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed.

A rare fuel oil cargo emerged from Djibouti in the same week, likely the city-state’s first ever import from the African country as ship-tracking firms has no record of fuel oil shipped from Djibouti to Singapore.

Meanwhile, China was the top destination for fuel oil exports from Singapore at 66,000 tonnes, as the country has been steadily buying fuel oil as a refinery feedstock this year.

Other top destinations for fuel oil exports were Bangladesh at 49,000 tonnes and New Caledonia at 45,000 tonnes, the data showed.

Western fuel oil supplies to the East of Suez eased in May to 3.4 million tonnes, down about 10% from April, based on the latest assessments from Refinitiv Oil Research.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; editing by Jason Neely)