Singapore fuel oil hits 2-week high despite thinning net imports

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Singapore weekly onshore fuel oil inventories rose 1.7 percent

to a two-week high of 19.999 million barrels (about 2.985 million tonnes) in the week ended Jan.

17 despite net imports of the fuel shrinking to their lowest in over a year, data from

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore showed on Thursday.

* Net fuel oil imports into Singapore shrank 75 percent from the previous week to 205,000

tonnes,

their lowest since the week to Dec. 14, 2016, when net imports stood at 145,000 tonnes, Reuters

calculations showed

* This marked the second consecutive week of sharp declines in fuel oil net imports, which

sent

Singapore's onshore fuel oil inventories to a seven-month low of 19.66 million barrels (2.934

million tonnes) in the week ended Jan. 10

* Onshore fuel oil inventories were 9.1 percent lower compared with a year-ago period

* Singapore's net exports of fuel oil to China topped the week at 155,000 tonnes, followed

by Hong

Kong with 70,000 tonnes and South Korea with 69,000 tonnes, the data showed

* The largest net imports into Singapore originated from Malaysia at 179,000 tonnes,

followed by

Taiwan at 91,000 tonnes, Lithuania at 72,000 tonnes and the United Arab Emirates at 38,000

tonnes, according to the data

* Fuel oil inventories in Singapore averaged 23.402 million barrels (3.493 million tonnes) a

week

since the start of 2017

Week to Jan. 17 Total Imports Total Net Imports

Exports

Fuel oil (in tonnes) BANGLADESH 0.0000 19,001.3420 -19,001

BRAZIL 26,435.6510 0.0000 26,436

CHINA 0.0153 155,003.0660 -155,003

GREECE 30,569.0340 0.0000 30,569

HONG KONG 0.0000 69,980.7290 -69,981

INDIA 0.0010 391.2880 -391

INDONESIA 42,561.8750 44,120.5120 -1,559

IRAQ 37,138.6290 0.0000 37,139

JAPAN 26,404.1790 0.0000 26,404

KOREA, REP OF 0.0000 68,503.0530 -68,503

LITHUANIA 71,902.8310 0.0000 71,903

MALAYSIA 265,475.2950 86,518.9850 178,956

NEW ZEALAND 0.0010 0.0000 0

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0.0000 15,521.3350 -15,521

RUSSIA 26,970.8740 0.0000 26,971

TAIWAN 91,077.2130 0.0000 91,077

THAILAND 6,762.4490 0.0000 6,762

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 38,475.8850 0.0000 38,476

TOTAL FOR 27101979 663,773.9323 459,040.3100 204,734

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)