Onshore storage volumes of fuel oil at the Singapore trading hub recovered this week as exports fell to their lowest levels in nearly five months, official data showed on Thursday.

Stockpiles climbed 17.4% to a two-week high of around 18 million barrels (about 2.84 million metric tons) in the week to Nov. 6, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

Inventories had plummeted to a 6-year low in the previous week on firm refuelling demand for bunker fuel.

Total exports slumped more than 80% from the previous week to about 122,400 tons, the lowest since the week to July 17.

Most cargoes were headed to New Caledonia, Bangladesh and Indonesia, excluding cargo movements from storage hub Malaysia.

The fall in exports outpaced that of imports, which declined 77% week-on-week to around 307,210 tons.

Indonesia was the top origin for imports, followed by Kazakhstan and Algeria.

Net imports, which are calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, fell 73% to around 184,810 tons.

November fundamentals in the residual market will continue to exhibit the prompt physical tightness seen in September, but with creeping incremental weakness expected on the back of consecutive stronger arrivals, LSEG Oil Research said in a report on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Varun H K)