Singapore's middle distillates stocks surge despite higher gasoil exports
(Reuters) - Singapore's middle distillates stockpiles surged by more than 1 million barrels (134,222 metric tons) from last week, as the impact of lower jet fuel/kerosene outflows offset an increase in gasoil net exports, official data showed on Thursday.
Gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene cargoes stored at key trading hub Singapore were at 8.635 million barrels - at a 19-week high - in the week ended Aug. 23, compared with 7.517 million barrels last week, official data from Enterprise Singapore showed.
This level was significantly higher than the 2022 average of 7.583 million barrels and 2023 average to date of 8.164 million barrels, the data added.
For jet fuel/kerosene, net exports fell slightly more than 26% week-on-week, as total exports to some regions such as Australia eased.
Total imports for the aviation and heating fuel remained minimal and below 50 tons.
On the gasoil front, total imports rose 6.6% from a week earlier, with significant arrivals from China, India and Taiwan.
India-origin cargoes are likely to continue flowing into Singapore, given the lucrative seller margins in the past few weeks.
At least two more cargoes are slated to load in the next seven days from India to Singapore, ship-tracking data from Refinitiv and Kpler showed.
China-origin arrivals were also in line with earlier market expectations, given the high July export numbers reported earlier and only a slight decline in August-loading exports.
China loaded between 533,000 and 632,000 tons of gasoil/diesel so far in August, ship-tracking data from Refinitiv and Kpler showed.
Export volumes of transport and industrial fuel remained elevated, climbing by around 48% week-on-week.
Key export destinations were regional countries such as Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, with demand from buyers in these regions likely to remain stable until the fourth quarter, two Singapore-based analysts said.
Demand could improve from Australia ahead of the summer season there, one northeast Asian refinery source said.
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