Singapore fuel oil stockpiles rebound after recent declines

SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Onshore fuel oil stockpiles in Singapore rebounded after three weeks of drawdown, official data showed on Thursday, led by higher arbitrage imports.

Inventories for residual fuels STKRS-SIN climbed to 24.56 million barrels (about 3.87 million metric tons) in the week to October 1, up 7.7% from the previous week, Enterprise Singapore data showed. O/SING1

Fuel oil imports exceeded 1.1 million tons, up 56% week-on-week. Brazil, Russia and Nigeria were the top supply origins for the week.

Exports also climbed, breaching 540,000 tons, up 63% week-on-week. China continued to be the top destination for the outflows, as with last week.

Asia received heavy supplies in September, which are likely to add to the inventories in October, industry sources said.

According to LSEG Oil Research, September fuel oil arrivals in East Asia totalled near 6 million tons, edging higher month-on-month, led by an uptick in western arbitrage arrivals as well as Middle Eastern volumes.

Spot differentials for fuel oil have inched higher in recent sessions, though the front-month market structure for 0.5% low-sulphur fuel oil remained in contango, indicative of ample prompt supply.

(Data from Enterprise Singapore)