Weekly residual fuel oil stocks slipped to four-week lows at key trading hub Singapore as net imports eased after a recent spike, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks fell 13% to 18.54 million barrels (2.92 million metric tons) in the week ended June 21, snapping a three-week build, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

Weekly net imports, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, fell 7% to 739,000 tons, after more than doubling in the previous week.

Malaysia was the top origin for Singapore’s fuel oil imports, with net import volumes at 269,000 tons, followed by Brazil at 226,000 tons and the Netherlands at 151,000 tons.

Western arbitrage imports remained high amid a wide East-West fuel oil price spread, which makes selling prices for the product more attractive in the East of Suez.
Meanwhile, exports from Singapore to China eased week-on-week to about 96,000 tons, though China was still the top recipient for fuel oil exports out of Singapore, the data showed.

The decline in inventories and expectations of tighter supplies for the first half of July have kept prices buoyed in recent trading sessions.
Spot cash premiums and refining margins for very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) soared to over four-month highs earlier this week, as bids for July-loading cargoes firmed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Varun H K)