Singapore fuel oil inventories dip as exports hit six-month high

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's residual fuel oil inventories fell 2% in the week to Aug. 12 as export volumes jumped to a near six-month high, official data showed on Thursday.

Onshore fuel oil stocks fell 417,000 barrels, or about 66,000 tonnes, to a two-week low of 23.817 million barrels, or 3.751 million tonnes, according to Enterprise Singapore data.

Residual fuel stocks, however, were up 21% from a year earlier.

The lower inventories came amid a jump in exports, which climbed to 445,000 tonnes in the week to Aug. 12, their highest since mid-February, the data showed. This compared to the 2020 weekly average of 278,000 tonnes in exports.

The higher exports dragged net imports 83% lower from the previous week to a more than two-month low of 242,000 tonnes, well below the 2020 weekly average of 680,000 tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile.

Most of Singapore's fuel oil net exports went to Saudi Arabia at 57,000 tonnes, followed by 44,000 tonnes to Bangladesh and 41,000 tonnes to Hong Kong.

Net exports to Saudi Arabia, an unusual importer of fuel oil from Singapore, were at their second highest on record, below the record high of 97,000 tonnes in the week to July 29.

The Kingdom typically exports residual fuel outside of the summer months to countries including Singapore and imports fuel oil for power generation, primarily from regional suppliers, during the hot summer months.

The largest net imports into Singapore were from Iraq at 107,000 tonnes, followed by Russia with 105,000 tonnes, Bahrain with 84,000 tonnes and Brazil with 66,000 tonnes.

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)