Singapore fuel oil stockpiles hit 16-week high as imports jump

SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - Singapore's onshore fuel oil stockpiles reached their highest in 16 weeks after imports soared, data showed on Thursday.

Residual fuel inventories STKRS-SIN were at 22.02 million barrels (about 3.47 million metric tons) in the week to April 9, up 4.5% from the previous week and hovering above typical averages, based on Enterprise Singapore data. O/SING1

The uptick in the inventories emerged after imports more than doubled week-on-week to breach 1.1 million metric tons.

The top supply origin in the week was Brazil, which exported a record high volume of fuel oil last month.

Subsequent top origins for imports were Indonesia and Nigeria. Asia is set to receive more fuel oil from Nigeria's Dangote refinery this month after it issued more sales tenders recently.

Meanwhile, outflows of fuel oil from Singapore onshore tanks totalled 293,000 tons in the week to April 9, edging higher by 17% from the previous week.

Most of these volumes were headed for Australia and China, excluding movements to storage facilities in Malaysia.

The Asia fuel oil market has come under pressure in recent sessions, with spot differentials for 380-cst high-sulphur fuel stuck in discounts, while low-sulphur fuel oil premiums showed little recovery. FUEL/A

(Data from Enterprise Singapore)