Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore climbed to four-week highs in the week to Sept. 20, official data showed, with net imports nearly doubling from last week.

Onshore fuel oil stocks were up 5% at 21.86 million barrels (3.44 million metric tons), data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

The uptick came as weekly net imports, which are calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, nearly doubled week-on-week at 1.01 million tons.

The United Arab Emirates remained the top origin for Singapore’s fuel oil imports at 274,000 tons, followed by Brazil at 227,000 tons.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka emerged as the top destination for Singapore’s fuel oil exports in the week at 38,000 tons. Total exports out of Singapore slumped by 32% from last week.

Total supplies to Asia are expected to breach 6 million tons for September, nearly 5% higher versus August, based on LSEG Oil Research this week.

The spot 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil recovered slightly this week, though cash differentials remain trapped in single-digit premiums to Singapore cargo quotes.

In contrast, the high sulphur fuel oil market has softened compared to August, with cash differentials and refining cracks trending lower into September.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Varun H K)