Onshore fuel oil stockpiles in major storage hub Singapore soared to their highest in over eight months, as heavy volumes of imports continued to flood storage tanks, latest data showed.

Residual fuel inventories climbed to 27.4 million barrels (4.31 million metric tons) in the week to September 3, the highest since mid-December, based on Enterprise Singapore.

Imports rose to above 1 million tons in the week, led by a jump in Brazilian arrivals. Supplies from various regions remained high, including from Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

Heavy supply arrivals have been weighing on fuel oil intermonth spreads, a key indicator for market strength or weakness.
Balance-month/October speads for both 380-cst high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) were hovering near parity levels on Thursday, market sources said.

Meanwhile, fuel oil exports out of Singapore storage tanks also climbed, though at smaller pace than imports. Most of the cargoes were headed for China, similar to previous weeks.
Source: Reuters