SINGAPORE - Onshore fuel oil stockpiles at Singapore rose for a second week as imports remained strong, led by a jump in Nigeria cargo inflows this week, data showed on Thursday. Residual fuel inventories stood at 23.38 million barrels (about 3.68 million metric tons) in the week to July 2, up 3.9% from the previous week, based on Enterprise Singapore. Imports climbed above 850,000 tons, with the increase led by a surge in Nigerian fuel oil inflows, while Brazilian inflows also remained high.

Nigeria's Dangote refinery had been issuing some fuel oil tenders on a sporadic basis in the past months. Meanwhile, exports out of onshore tanks were mostly headed for China, with volumes surging week-on-week to more than 194,000 tons.

China's Shandong government has raised fuel oil import tax rebates for selected independent refineries, a move likely to spur some recovery in demand. Despite this, benchmarks for high-sulphur fuel oil have trended softer in recent trading sessions due to the high inventories in Singapore.

The spot market differential has fallen from a premium into a discount this week, pricing data showed. Week to Jun. 25, Fuel oil Total Total Net (in metric tons) Imports Exports Imports BRAZIL 129,763 0 129,763 CHINA 0 31,459 -31,459 INDIA 0 92 -92 INDONESIA 42,127 0 42,127 IRAQ 30,488 0 30,488 KOREA 4,417 0 4,417 KUWAIT 22,106 0 22,106 MALAYSIA 193,957 54,026 139,931 MEXICO 75,961 0 75,961 NETHERLANDS 3,614 0 3,614 NEW ZEALAND 0 8,649 -8,649 PHILIPPINES 0 17,750 -17,750 SOUTH SUDAN 45,883 0 45,883 SRI LANKA 0 9,996 -9,996 VIETNAM 9,625 17,763 -8,139 TOTAL 557,941 139,736 418,204