Singapore fuel oil stocks fall 12% to three-week low; net imports fall

SINGAPORE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Residual fuel oil stocks at key trading hub Singapore fell 12% to a three-week low amid a decline in net imports in the week to Sept. 7, official data showed Thursday. The decline follows three consecutive weeks of stock builds that weighed on market sentiment. Onshore fuel oil stocks were at 19.94 million barrels, or 3.14 million tonnes, based on Enterprise Singapore data. Net imports of fuel oil fell 11% in the week to Sept. 7 to 694,000 tonnes, below a weekly average volume of 707,000 tonnes seen in August. The largest net import volumes were from Malaysia at 397,000 tonnes, Brazil at 143,000 tonnes and Belgium at 102,000 tonnes. Top destinations for Singapore's fuel oil net exports were China at 39,000 tonnes, Hong Kong at 29,000 tonnes and Madagascar at 16,000 tonnes. September fuel oil flows into East Asia, most of which go to Singapore, are expected to fall to about 3.5 million tonnes from 4.4 million tonnes in August, the latest weekly assessments by Refinitiv Oil Research showed. Premiums for very low sulphur fuel oil have steadied recently after slumping in August. Sept 7, Fuel oil (in Total Total Exports Net Imports tonnes) Imports BELGIUM 101,983 0 101,983 BRAZIL 142,736 0 142,736 BRUNEI 4,401 0 4,401 CHINA 0 38,994 -38,994 HONG KONG 0 28,605 -28,605 INDIA 41,874 3,911 37,963 INDONESIA 0 7 -7 ISRAEL 16,285 0 16,285 KOREA, REP OF 14,060 23,020 -8,960 MADAGASCAR 0 16,351 -16,351 MALAYSIA 414,006 16,883 397,123 MAURITIUS 0 7,598 -7,598 NETHERLANDS 1,046 0 1,046 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 12,025 -12,025 THAILAND 36,460 0 36,460 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 68,770 0 68,770 UNITED KINGDOM 0 0 0 TOTAL 841,621 147,395 694,226 (Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; editing by Jason Neely)