Residual fuel oil stockpiles at key trading hub Singapore fell for a second consecutive week to a one-month low, official data showed on Thursday. Onshore fuel oil inventories fell 5% to 18.55 million barrels (2.92 million metric tons) in the week ended Nov. 8, data from Enterprise Singapore showed. The dip came amid a sharp decline in net fuel oil imports and a firm market backwardation. Net imports, calculated by subtracting total exports from total imports, fell by more than five times week-on-week to 233,490 tons, based on the Enterprise Singapore data. Meanwhile, Singapore's balance-month backwardation for 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil hit $32 a metric ton on Nov. 9, staying wide above $30, LSEG data showed. A backwardated market discourages storage economics and prompts selling interest as spot prices are higher than for later months. Most of Singapore's fuel oil imports in the week to Nov. 1 came from Malaysia, Indonesia and India, the data showed. Meanwhile, most of the exports were headed for Hong Kong, China and South Korea in the same week. Nov 8, Fuel oil Total Imports Total Exports Net Imports (in tons) AUSTRALIA 0 30,899 -30,899 BRAZIL 17,841 0 17,841 CHINA 0 64,996 -64996 FINLAND 0 0 0 HONG KONG 0 97,972 -97,972 INDIA 57,330 106 57,225 INDONESIA 181,987 15,869 166,118 JAPAN 5,809 0 5,809 KOREA, REP OF 21,975 62,311 -40,336 MALAYSIA 195,875 29,065 166,810 MYANMAR 0 0 0 NETHERLANDS 3,888 0 3,888 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 12,020 -12,020 PHILIPPINES 0 38,000 -38,000 SRI LANKA 0 19,013 -19,013 TAIWAN 23,228 0 23,228 THAILAND 44,991 0 44,991 TÜRKIYE 10,776 0 10,776 UNITED STATES 40,039 0 40,039 TOTAL 603,740 370,250 233,489 (Data from Enterprise Singapore) (Reporting by Ashley Fang; Editing by Eileen Soreng)