Singapore's middle distillates stocks rise as imports from India emerge
(Reuters) - Singapore's middle distillates inventories clawed back earlier weeks' of losses and rose on higher gasoil imports, with Indian-origin cargoes arriving for the first time in more than three months, official data showed on Thursday.
Gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene stored at key trading hub Singapore surged to a four-week high of 7.517 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 16, climbing from 7 million barrels the week before, official data from Enterprise Singapore showed.
Gasoil arrivals from India were recorded for the first time since end-May, with expectations of more August imports to Singapore likely, shiptracking data from Refinitiv and Kpler showed.
One key reason could be the slower local fuel sales during a seasonal monsoon lull, which is incentivizing refiners to export their cargoes instead, one Singapore-based analyst who declined to be named said.
Volatile margins for India-based refiners selling their cargoes to the west of Suez markets since end-July could have led them to send the cargoes here as well, a separate market source said.
The exchange of futures for swaps (EFS) spread between Asia and northwest Europe, a typical market benchmark for sellers to gauge margins for selling into each market, have been fluctuating between a discount of $26 and $40 a metric ton in second-half of July, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.
At least three more vessels carrying India-origin gasoil cargoes are likely to arrive in Singapore for the remaining of August, ship tracking data showed.
South Korea-origin arrival cargoes also contributed to the rise in total imports this week, with volumes rising by more than two times from a week earlier, and more expected in the next few weeks.
Total gasoil exports, however, still rose by around 86% week-on-week, albeit at a slower pace than total imports.
Gasoil cargoes heading to Malaysia from Singapore climbed to almost 80,000 tons, double the volumes last week, although refinery production issues there could have ended already, one source said.
Below are the top contributor countries for gasoil exports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons):
However, a steady outflow of jet fuel/kerosene cargoes for the week kept a lid on overall gains, with net exports of these fuels increasing by more than twofold from a week earlier.
Regional countries such as the Pacific Islands remained the key destinations for the exports.
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