Singapore fuel oil inventories pile higher for fourth straight week

By Jeslyn Lerh SINGAPORE, June 20 (Reuters) - Onshore fuel oil stockpiles at key trading and storage hub Singapore built for a fourth straight week, official data showed on Thursday. Inventories rose 19% to 22.81 million barrels (3.59 million metric tons) in the week ended June 19, reaching a 17-week high, Enterprise Singapore data showed. Bunkering demand has been tepid in the week, while at the same, broader supplies to Asia recovered, market sources said. On the exports front, top destinations for fuel oil outflows from Singapore's onshore tanks included China, Philippines and Bangladesh in the week ended June 19. Meanwhile, most of the inflows into onshore tanks hailed from Russia and the United States in the same week, excluding cargo movements between Singapore and Malaysia. Amid higher inventories, spot premiums for the low-sulphur market remained trapped between $1 to $2 a ton over Singapore quotes in recent weeks. High-sulphur 380-cst premiums were also steady week-on-week at $11 to $12 a ton. Bunkering demand slowed in a holiday-thinned week, while some shipowners also monitored the recent oil spill situation, said market sources. Singapore premiums of delivered bunker fuel held at about $10 a ton for the flagship 0.5% low-sulphur fuel grade, little changed through the month, based on data from sources. Meanwhile, incoming fuel oil supplies to Asia in June climbed closer to May volumes, which were slightly above 5 million tons. Week to Jun 19, Fuel oil (in Total Total Net Imports metric tons) Imports Exports BANGLADESH 0 15,047 -15,047 CANADA 0 0 0 CHINA 0 80,011 -80,011 HONG KONG 0 0 0 INDIA 31,741 96 31,646 INDONESIA 22,175 5,493 16,682 KOREA 17,591 13,149 4,442 MALAYSIA 135,633 19,712 115,920 PHILIPPINES 0 62,461 -62,461 RUSSIA 99,784 0 99,784 TAIWAN 6,826 0 6,826 UNITED STATES 38,509 0 38,509 VIETNAM 0 198 -198 TOTAL 352,259 196,166 156,093 (Data from Enterprise Singapore) (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)