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Uptick in exports outweigh mild drop for imports
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Steady demand from China and Bangladesh
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Russian imports record onshore storage
By Jeslyn Lerh SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore eased after striking more than a year's high last week, with net imports sliding for a third consecutive week, official data showed on Thursday.
Onshore fuel oil stocks were at 23.52 million barrels (3.70 million tonnes) in the week to April 12, dipping 1% from the previous week, based on Enterprise Singapore data. However, supplies are still high compared with the start of the year when weekly inventories were about 21 million barrels. Weekly net fuel oil imports fell in the week as a jump in exports out of Singapore countered a mild decline in imports. Net fuel oil imports slipped 31% to 303,000 tonnes, the data showed.
China was the top destination for Singapore's net fuel oil exports at 86,000 tonnes, followed by South Korea at 66,000 tonnes and Bangladesh at 45,000 tonnes.
Demand for fuel oil to be used as feedstocks remained steady from China in place of relatively more expensive crude barrels, while Bangladesh continued to import amid expectations of higher demand for power generation in summer.
Meanwhile, most of Singapore's fuel oil net imports were from Malaysia at
148,000 tonnes, followed by India at 110,000 tonnes and Russia at 89,000 tonnes.
Total fuel oil supplies to wider Asia were pegged at 5.33 million tonnes for
April, higher from March, based on Refinitiv Oil Research this week. These flows
continued to be dominated by Russian fuel oil, which accounted for more than 60%
of total arrivals, according to Refinitiv.
Apr 12, Fuel oil (in tonnes) Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports
BANGLADESH 0 45,216 -45,216
BRAZIL 30,410 0 30,410
CHINA 0 85,844 -85,844
FRANCE 11,202 0 11,202
HONG KONG 0 44,999 -44,999
INDIA 109,964 0 109,964
INDONESIA 27,528 19,003 8,526
IRAQ 35,011 0 35,011
KOREA 14,440 80,534 -66,094
MALAYSIA 276,284 128,655 147,629
MALTA 46,207 0 46,207
NETHERLANDS 2,747 0 2,747
RUSSIA 88,543 0 88,543
SAUDI ARABIA 84,097 0 84,097
SEYCHELLES 0 7,999 -7,999
SRI LANKA 0 12,012 -12,012
TAIWAN 0 4,852 -4,852
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 9,199 0 9,199
VIETNAM 10,300 13,680 -3,381
TOTAL 745,930 442,794 303,136
(Data from Enterprise Singapore)
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
