Singapore light distillates stocks hit over 3-yr high on robust imports
Singapore light distillate stocks swelled to the highest level since July 2022 this week amid high supplies of naphtha and gasoline while demand for both products was lower-than-expected, analysts and traders said on Friday.
(click image to enlarge)
Stocks in the onshore oil products inventory held by up to 14 major oil and oil storage companies rose 2.6% on week to 17.978 MMbbl as of February 11, Enterprise Singapore data showed late on Thursday.
"It is a combination of both. Gasoline (stocks) mainly from increased outflows from South Korea and healthy supply from China; naphtha from Russia and the Middle East," said Valerie Panopio, vice president, commodity markets - oil, at consultancy Rystad Energy.
In the last two months, buyers have become more cautious after Washington imposed sanctions on top Russian oil producers, forcing sellers to hold naphtha on ships or in storage abroad from where it can be re-exported, often with the destination obscured.
Two trade sources said it was difficult to track naphtha volumes in commercial tanks, as some of the product was declared as aromatics upon arrival.
One of the sources said about 1 MMbbl of naphtha every week have landed in Singapore straits last month, while Rystad Energy estimated 110,000 bpd of Russian naphtha arrived in Singapore in January.
(click image to enlarge)
On the gasoline front, Indonesia, Asia's largest buyer, has recently commissioned the 90,000 barrels-per-day gasoline-producing unit at its Balikpapan refinery.
That has boosted the country's capability to produce gasoline, affecting demand ahead of Ramadan, Rystad's Panopio said. Meanwhile, supplies from China and South Korea have increased, government data showed.
(click image to enlarge)
Comments