Singapore fuel oil stocks jump, imports from Iraq hit record high

SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Singapore fuel oil inventories jumped 13 percent to a

four-week high in the week ended Nov. 21, despite an 18 percent drop in net imports to a

two-week low, official data released on Thursday showed.

- The higher inventory levels were in line with market expectations of increased arbitrage

flows into Singapore in November, compared with the previous month, with more volumes due for

arrival in the second half of the month, trade sources said.

- Onshore fuel oil inventories jumped 2.082 million barrels (about 311,000 tonnes) to 17.903

million barrels, or 2.672 million tonnes, in the week to Nov. 21, data from International

Enterprise (IE) Singapore showed.

- Net fuel oil imports came in at 1.121 million tonnes, compared with an 11-week high of

1.359 million tonnes in the week before. Weekly figures like this are volatile, however.

- Singapore fuel oil net imports have averaged 792,000 tonnes per week in 2018.

- This week's onshore fuel oil inventories were 24 percent lower than a year earlier.

- Singapore's net exports of fuel oil to China topped the week ended Nov. 21 at 297,000

tonnes, an 11-month high, followed by Hong Kong at 264,000 tonnes, Malaysia at 106,000 tonnes

and Qatar at 41,000 tonnes.

- Singapore's fuel oil shipment to Qatar in the week to Wednesday marked a second

consecutive week of fuel oil exports to the gas-rich Gulf state. Before that, Singapore never

exported fuel oil to Qatar since at least December 2015, or as far as records go back, official

data compiled by Reuters showed.

- The largest net imports into Singapore originated from Iraq at 533,000 tonnes, followed by

Russia at 286,000 tonnes, the Netherlands at 218,000 tonnes, Saudi Arabia at 192,000 tonnes and

Malta at 172,000 tonnes.

- Singapore's fuel oil imports from Iraq hit a record high in the week to Nov. 21. Only

Russia and Malaysia exported larger volumes of fuel oil to Singapore in any given week this year

at 658,000 tonnes and 679,000 tonnes, respectively.

- Fuel oil inventories in Singapore have averaged 18.83 million barrels, or 2.81 million

tonnes, a week since the start of 2018, compared with 23.552 million barrels, or 3.515 million

tonnes, in 2017.

Week to Nov 21 Total Imports Total Net Imports

Exports

Fuel oil (in tonnes) BANGLADESH 0 32,119 -32,119

BELGIUM 14,735 0 14,735

BRUNEI 0 13 -13

CANADA 72,572 0 72,572

CHINA 0 297,011 -297,011

COLOMBIA 67,813 0 67,813

ESTONIA 52,323 0 52,323

GERMANY 7,083 0 7,083

HONG KONG 0 263,877 -263,877

INDIA 32,789 7,347 25,443

IRAQ 533,322 0 533,322

LATVIA 56,135 0 56,135

MALAYSIA 190,600 296,255 -105,655

MALTA 172,195 0 172,195

MEXICO 10,967 0 10,967

NETHERLANDS 217,728 0 217,728

NEW CALEDONIA 0 9,663 -9,663

NORWAY 74 0 74

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 3,281 -3,281

PHILIPPINES 30,974 31,033 -59

POLAND 41,032 0 41,032

QATAR 0 40,704 -40,704

RUSSIA 285,526 0 285,526

SAUDI ARABIA 191,923 0 191,923

TAIWAN 30,530 38,016 -7,486

THAILAND 0 19,989 -19,989

UNITED KINGDOM 13,304 0 13,304

UNITED STATES 139,157 0 139,157

TOTAL 2,160,783 1,039,307 1,121,476

(Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)