Singapore fuel stocks rise 12%, distillates fall 8%

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Inventories of residual fuels in the bunkering hub of Singapore rose 12% in the week to 2 June 2021, the highest level in three weeks, while stocks of middle distillates fell by a steep 8% to the lowest level since the pandemic began.

With global travel recovering due to an easing of lockdowns in Europe and the US, middle distillate stocks fell almost 1 million barrels to 11.46 million barrels, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.

The figure is more than 20% down on the average for 2020, when stocks rose due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Distillates cracks are on an uptrend, with jet and 10ppm Q4 cracks improving over the past month by $1/b, Quantum data showed.

In terms of fuel oil, stocks rose 2.7 million barrels to 25.59 million barrels, although cracks for high-sulfur and marine fuel have improved over the past week, largely due to pessimism over Iranian supply.

They remain slightly above the 2020 average of 24 million barrels.

Stocks of light ends, such as gasoline, naphtha and LPG have risen 643,000 barrels, or 5%, to 13.165 million barrels as demand dries up owing to new travel curbs in southeast Asia.

Inventories, however, are below the 2020 average.