Singapore fuel oil stocks at 8-week high despite lower net imports

SINGAPORE, May 14 (Reuters) - Singapore's residual fuel oil inventories rose 4% in the week ended May 13 despite lower net import volumes, official data showed on Thursday, in a sign of sluggish marine fuels demand at the world's top bunkering hub. - Onshore fuel oil stocks rose by 851,000 barrels (about 134,000 tonnes) from the previous week to 24.987 million barrels, or 3.935 million tonnes, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. - Residual fuel stocks were 5% higher than a year earlier. - This came despite lower net import volumes which dropped 42% from the previous week to a two-week low of 348,000 tonnes, less than half of the 2020 weekly average of 704,000 tonnes. Weekly figures, however, are volatile. - Spot bunker fuel demand was sluggish in the Singapore hub over the past few weeks, said four trade sources. - Singapore marine fuel sales slipped to a two-month low of 4.114 million tonnes in April, down 5% from March but were 11% higher than year earlier levels, official data showed on Wednesday. - For the week, most of Singapore's net fuel oil exports were to China at 60,000 tonnes, followed by 17,000 tonnes to Papua New Guinea and 10,000 tonnes to Vietnam. - The largest net imports into Singapore were Malaysia's 143,000 tonnes, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 94,000 tonnes, Russia with 38,000 tonnes and Taiwan with 35,000 tonnes. - Singapore fuel oil imports from the UAE, a frequent exporter to Singapore, resumed after an unusual five-week absence due to unprofitable export economics from the UAE and ample Singapore supplies, two trade sources said. - Singapore fuel oil stocks have averaged at 23.552 million barrels, or 3.709 million tonnes, per week so far this year, compared with 21.081 million barrels, or 3.32 million tonnes, in 2019. May 13 Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports Fuel oil (in tonnes) ALGERIA 4,730 0 4,730 AUSTRALIA 15,783 0 15,783 BRAZIL 26,492 0 26,492 CHINA 0 60,001 -60,001 ESTONIA 0 0 0 HONG KONG 0 0 0 JAPAN 14,891 0 14,891 KOREA, REP OF 19,012 0 19,012 MALAYSIA 161,080 18,128 142,952 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 17,055 -17,055 RUSSIA 38,462 0 38,462 SPAIN 33,572 0 33,572 SRI LANKA 0 0 0 TAIWAN 35,065 0 35,065 THAILAND 10,105 0 10,105 UNITED ARAB 93,705 0 93,705 EMIRATES UNITED STATES 0 0 0 VIETNAM 0 9,978 -9,978 TOTAL 452,899 105,162 347,737 (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)