Singapore onshore fuel oil stockpiles logged their highest volumes in two weeks, although levels dipped below the average, official data showed on Thursday. Residue inventories were at 19.25 million barrels (3.03 million tons) in the week to Feb. 5, up 6.1% week-on-week, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Volumes, however, fell below a typical average of 19.7 million barrels per week, after holding steadily higher between late December and mid-January. Analysts eyed lower incoming supplies to Asia for February compared to last month, led by softer Russian inflows. “Russian residuals arrivals for the first week of the month are weaker across all consuming countries,” LSEG Oil Research said in a report this week.
LSEG expects arrivals to ease due to enhanced sanctions and greater scrutiny of the shadow fleet, it said. Most of the imports flowing into Singapore onshore storage in the week to Feb. 5 were from the United States and Indonesia, based on Enterprise data, while no direct imports from Russia were recorded. Meanwhile, most of the fuel oil exports were headed to South Korea and China for the week. Singapore cash differentials for high-sulphur and low-sulphur fuel oil have eased slightly in recent sessions, although they remained firmer than earlier in the year. Particularly, the high-sulphur market has been strong, though trade sources expect some cooling off in the near term.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
